According to the Center for Immigration Studies, immigration advocates
and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the huge backlog of immigration
court cases currently pending before a total of 334 immigration judges
may be even larger. This is due in large part to the administrative closure
of cases, a tool that was often used during the Obama administration to
deal with deportation cases that did not align with the administration’s
deportation priorities. Administrative closure occurs as a result of prosecutorial
discretion, which under the Trump administration essentially has disappeared.
Over the past ten years, the number of cases resolved by immigration judges’
decisions has sharply dropped, at the same time as administrative closure
of pending cases has increased a full 21 percentage points. Administrative
closure, however, does not resolve those cases; instead, either party
can have the cases placed back on the court’s docket at any time.
Some estimate that the number of administratively closed cases could be
as high as 100,000. This means that in addition to the enormous backlog
of deportation cases, there could be thousands of additional cases that
can be added back to the pending caseload whenever federal immigration
attorneys decide to do so. The Trump administration has made it clear
in various policy memos to DHS that prosecutorial discretion is no longer
an option except in the rarest of circumstances, and that the previous
prioritization of certain groups of immigrants over others is now invalid.
This could result in an increased, rather than decreased, backlog, as
the numbers of administratively closed cases begins to fall, leaving more
cases pending on the immigration court docket. Despite the significant
backlog of deportation cases in immigration court, there are still thousands
of immigrants who are facing court dates related to deportation every
day. Landerholm Immigration, A.P.C., knows federal immigration law and
has the experience to guide you and advocate on your behalf throughout
any type of deportation proceeding, no matter what the allegations may
be. We are familiar with the wide range of defenses that are available
to individuals facing deportation, and how to build the strongest defense
that is available to you, based on the evidence relevant to your case.
Contact your California deportation defense lawyers today, and discover
what we can do for you.
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