On July 19, 2023, Law360 published the attached commentary entitled A Blueprint For Addressing The Immigration Court Backlog, by Donald Kerwin. This article addresses the US immigration court backlog, which it attributes to systemic problems in the broader US immigration system.
"It would be a mistake to blame the backlog on EOIR [the Executive Office for Immigration Review] or its 650 immigration judges," Kerwin writes. "Instead, the backlog results from ... gross disparities in funding between immigration enforcement and the adjudication of removal proceedings, the failure of Congress to enact meaningful legislative reform, backlogs in the legal immigration system and the limited authorities of immigration judges."
The commentary offers seven sets of interrelated policy recommendations based on the Center for Migration Studies of New York's (CMS's) comprehensive study, The US Immigration Courts, Dumping Ground for the Nation’s Systemic Immigration Failures: The Causes, Composition, and Politically Difficult Solutions to the Court Backlog, published in CMS's Journal on Migration and Human Security.
“Many of the broader problems in the US immigration system have seemed impervious to reform," the commentary concludes. "Yet a technical, good-government issue, such as reducing the backlog, may be the right vehicle to begin to remedy past failures. A nation with 45 million foreign-born residents needs an immigration court system that fairly and efficiently adjudicates cases.”
To access CMS's
immigration court backlog report click HERE.