Swamped immigration courts manage to fast-track family cases
Published 12:04 pm Saturday, August 3, 2019
- In this April 28, 2010, file photo, men look for a place to sleep in a crowded shelter for migrants deported from the United States, in the border city of Nogales, Mexico. U.S. authorities are fast-tracking families' cases through the immigration courts in a pilot program aimed at discouraging many from making the journey to seek refuge in the United States. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull,File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. authorities are fast-tracking families’ cases through immigration courts in a bid to discourage many from making the journey to seek refuge in the United States.
The government wants 56,000 cases in 10 cities from Atlanta to San Francisco heard more quickly. The immigration courts say they aim to complete the cases in a year.
That’s swift for a backlogged system where asylum seekers often wait years for a decision.
Immigration attorneys say the new timetable is too fast to prepare their clients to testify and get documents from foreign countries to bolster their asylum claims.
Advocates say it prevents many immigrants from obtaining work permits while they wait for hearings.
The Trump administration is trying to curtail the arrival of tens of thousands of Central American families each month to the U.S.-Mexico border.
