125 new federal immigration judges? Nice try, but that is not nearly enough
Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants prosecutors to make more immigration crimes a priority — and some of them more serious offenses. That all but guarantees more cases will be headed to federal immigration courts. But, no worries, guys. Sessions says he plans to hire another 125 judges over two years to help handle it all. Except ... Federal immigration courts are already drowning in cases. More than 540,000 cases were pending in February, according to Syracuse University’s TRAC immigration website. That’s twice the backlog judges were facing eight years ago. More than 10,000 pending cases are in Arizona alone.
Not surprisingly, the system is barely functioning as it is. It now takes an average of 678 days to get a hearing (so much for due process, huh?), and cases can stretch on for much longer if there are appeals or requested continuances.
That leaves lots of people in limbo — and, increasingly, at costly detention facilities. The Department of Homeland Security requested $2.2 billion this year to provide 31,000 beds each day.
The Washington Post reported in 2014 that judges were given an average of seven minutes to make a ruling — and that’s when the national backlog was closer to 400,000 cases. It wasn’t any better when the Associated Press recently visited an Atlanta immigration court.
Judge Michael Baird’s calendar was filled with more than three dozen cases that day. Two of them involved Haitian men who appeared by video from a detention center nearly 200 miles away. Neither had received the necessary notice to appear in court, and Baird, clearly frustrated, dismissed the charges.
So much for justice (much less getting tough on crime). Baird said this sort of thing happens all the time. Why wouldn’t it? There are roughly 300 judges in 58 immigration courts nationwide. Handling more than a half-million cases.
The Post noted in a recent editorial that at least 200 new judges are needed to clear the backlog. And, of course, that doesn’t count the additional crimes Sessions wants made a priority.
Give the attorney general credit: He is at least trying to speed hiring. And hey, 125 new judges is better than the 60 or so the Obama administration added since 2015.
But I’ll be surprised if those new guys make a dent. Roughly as many sitting judges are eligible to retire — and given their ever-increasing workload, I wouldn’t be surprised if many do.