Nearly half immigration judges eligible to retire

MIAMI — The nation’s already backlogged immigration courts might soon be thrown into more havoc as roughly half of their 220 judges will be eligible for retirement next year.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the nation’s 59 immigration courts, says the court already has 32 vacancies, contributing to the current backlog of nearly 350,000 cases. Judges are overwhelmed, and immigrants with legitimate asylum claims can spend years in legal limbo.

Meanwhile, immigrants without legitimate legal claims remain in the country, while Americans foot the bill for them to be locked up longer.

The Executive Office says its average retirement rate is only 5 percent per year — which would mean 11 judges retiring in 2014. But Judge Dana Leigh Marks, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, fears increasingly difficult conditions are likely to push many to retire at the earliest opportunity.

“We are the forgotten stepchild. When Congress wants to fund immigration enforcement, they forget about the court,” Marks said.

She said it takes months to vet judicial appointees and even longer for judges to get up to speed.

Congress has aggressively boosted funding for immigration enforcement and detention, with the Obama administration deporting some 360,000 people last year. Yet, the courts have seen few additional resources. That’s even as caseloads have jumped 15 percent since 2011, according to Executive Office for Immigration Review Director Juan Osuna, who testified before a congressional subcommittee.

As far back as 2008, a Georgetown Immigration Law Journal article surveying immigration judges found they exhibited more burnout “than prison wardens and physicians in busy hospitals.” The judges blamed the stress on the pressure to adjudicate so many cases — and decide the fate of so many lives — in such little time.

Unlike other federal judges, immigration judges fall under the U.S. Department of Justice and are employees of the executive branch, not the judicial branch. Their caseload varies. In Honolulu, two immigration judges currently each have about 100 cases, while six judges in Houston have about 6,000 cases each, according to the nonprofit federal data tracker, Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

Immigration judges have no bailiff, no court reporter and aren’t guaranteed a court clerk. And while a federal judge might lean on three law clerks to help with 400 or so complaints, three immigration judges generally split one law clerk for an average of 1,500 cases.

Immigration judges also shoulder a much greater share of the legal research than other judges because 60 percent of those who come before their bench cannot afford an attorney.

Brookings Institute Fellow Russell Wheeler said the delays create additional expense for taxpayers because individuals can spend more time behind bars waiting for their cases to be resolved at a cost of about $160 per night.

Not everyone wants more judges, though. The lag time allows those without legitimate legal claims to remain in the country longer, and some immigrants hope if they can fight deportation long enough, Congress will eventually provide them some form of amnesty. Others marry a U.S. citizen while waiting for their cases to be heard.

Miami immigration attorney Hector Diaz accompanied his client to immigration court this month in Miami. The client, who is in the country illegally, is fighting a deportation order he received after he was stopped for driving with an expired license.

Diaz argues his client’s removal would cause extreme hardship for the man’s mother, a U.S. citizen, but Diaz acknowledges it’s a tough case to win.

“So it does benefit them to have the cases pushed back,” he said.

Judge Marks said while some benefit from the delays, it’s often those with the strongest cases who lose out because memories fade and witnesses supporting their case become less reliable or available over time.

The Senate passed immigration legislation in June that allocates more money for the immigration courts and called for 225 new judges, as well as an equal number of support staff, over the next three years. But House Speaker John Boehner has said his chamber will not take up that bill nor address a similar one introduced by House Democrats.

The president’s 2014 budget calls for 30 new immigration judge teams to address the backlog as well as other efforts to help the courts, but the stalemate in Congress makes it less likely the improvements will happen.

Immigration attorney Ira Kurzban, author of the industry standard, “Kurzban’ s Immigration Law Sourcebook,” said while many in Congress complain about deportation proceedings, they have failed to provide the necessary resources for sufficient judges to allow the system to function properly.

“Doing so would allow those people who should be here legally to get their legal status, and those who have no legal claim to be here would presumably be deported,” he said.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.