Monday, July 13, 2009

Dallas immigration court's backlog hits 10-year high

Larger caseloads and fewer judges are making the backlog worse than ever. - - Donna Poisl

By AVI SELK / The Dallas Morning News

The backlog of cases in Dallas' immigration court has reached its highest point in a decade, resulting in the second-longest waiting times in Texas, a new national study shows.

At the end of April, Dallas had 2,633 pending cases, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan group at Syracuse University that analyzes federal efficiency. The only courts with more were in San Antonio and in Houston, which has the longest waiting time.

Overall, the number of immigration cases handled by the administrative judges in Dallas, including bonds, motions and removal proceedings, has climbed more 50 percent since fiscal year 1999.

The backlog generally stems from larger caseloads, the complexity of immigration disputes and the lack of enough administrative judges and resources to help them.
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