IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration is issuing new guidelines to the nation’s overwhelmed immigration courts in hopes that new case priorities and goals will ease a massive backlog.
A seven-page memo to immigration judges from James McHenry, the director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, says the court should first tackle cases of those detained in immigration jail—with an aim of finishing at least 85% of such cases within two months—and cases with deadlines established by law.
Eighty-five percent of cases for immigrants free in the U.S. should be finished within a year, it says.
There is currently a backlog of nearly 660,000 cases, and jail space for about 34,000 people. The backlog has meant the cases for people not being held in jail can take years to be completed.
President Donald Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a priority and has repeatedly vowed to quickly deport immigrants caught living in the country illegally.
Arrests of immigrants living in the country illegally rose about 40% during Mr. Trump’s first year in office, though deportations fell as fewer people were caught crossing the border illegally.
The president has also pledged to add resources to the court system and reduce the yearslong backlog.
Mr. McHenry, who oversees the Justice Department’s immigration court system, said in the memo that the agency’s case priority categories can be expanded in the future and apply only to new cases.”
-Alicia A Caldwell, “Trump Administration Sets New Priorities for Immigration Courts,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 17, 2018 08:45am