Immigration Court Dockets are overburdened
In our experience as immigration advocates, one thing stands out above all of the others, the system cannot handle the caseload now assigned to it. There is a visa backlog of several years. There is a court backlog of several years. We are being assigned court dates in 2020 or 2021. Our clients with approved asylum requests or cancellations or family petitions will have to wait at least that long for visas. Now, judges from Baltimore are being sent to the border with nothing to do. Politico reported yesterday that judges are being forced to delay cases in their home courts. However, the dockets on the assignment to border are smaller than the home courts. Less work is being done and the system is being made more inefficient. Further, if the intent is to deport more asylum seekers, the results may backfire. Many judges being sent to the border regularly grant asylum petitions. People are being denied the right to hearings. They are being forced to wait incredibly long times to have their cases adjudicated and there is nothing being done to alleviate the situation. People are legitimately fleeing persecution and despair in their home countries. They have credible fear of death and torture. They are trying to make a better life for themselves here. They work, many illegally because they cannot get the proper permits. We cannot use gimmicks to solve these problems. We must come to comprehensive solutions for the betterment of the people, many of whom are our clients. It is the only way forward.