The Trump administration’s closing of some immigration courts and the federal agency that oversees asylum claims will add to the 1.1 million immigration cases waiting to be decided and will lengthen the time it takes to do so, according to a former federal immigration judge.
“It’s going to grow the backlog,” said the judge, who agreed to speak on background, in a phone call with the Washington Examiner on Wednesday. “When you miss the court date, that means you’ve got to keep rolling it back.”
Federal immigration courts, overseen by the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, announced Wednesday the temporary closure of courts in major U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Louisville, Los Angeles, Memphis, Newark, two New York City locations, and Sacramento.
More than 55 other immigration courts remain open but are only hearing the cases of illegal immigrants being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities. That allows people outside jails the ability to stay home and not have to go out in public to appear in court but also delays the legal process. The number of people, including members of families not detained in jails, waiting for cases to go through the courts is at more than 3 million.
Matt Pinsker, a former special prosecutor assigned to the southern border, agreed that the move will add to the backlog.
“What this means is, when things do reopen, whether it’s 60 days, 90 days, man, are we going to be busy,” Pinsker said in a phone call Wednesday.
The partial shuttering of the total 68 immigration courts comes two days after an unusual joint statement in which the unions representing federal judges, ICE employees, and nongovernmental immigration attorneys called for the move.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shuttered all face-to-face services at its field offices, asylum offices, and application support centers “to help slow the spread” of the virus, for which 6,500 people in the United States have tested positive, according to the USCIS website Wednesday afternoon. USCIS is an agency with the Department of Homeland Security that oversees the processes for seeking asylum, citizenship, family members of citizens or permanent residents who want to move to the U.S., as well as the E-Verify work authorization program, and the procurement of a visa or green card.
Those with appointments or naturalization ceremonies will get a letter in the mail from USCIS after offices reopen to inform them of their new appointment time. USCIS will continue some emergency services via phone.
A USCIS official said he could not share how many people the suspension of services would affect, adding employees “will continue our workload that does not require face-to-face contact with the public.”
The move follows an onslaught of calls to suspend appointments by immigration attorneys. In a post on Tuesday, the American Immigration Lawyers Association asked USCIS to postpone nonessential interviews, appointments, and naturalization oath ceremonies for 30 days, as well as asylum interviews, which are in-person and cannot be done by telephone. The USCIS ban is two weeks long.
The judges union announced in a tweet Tuesday that a judge was out sick with what they believe is the coronavirus: “An immigration judge in Denver is out sick with suspected coronavirus. Director James McHenry, close the immigration courts. You are failing to protect the public and your employees.”
