Wave of [illegal alien] migrant children threatens to swamp U.S. immigration courts

Article author: 
Richard Cowan
Article publisher: 
Reuters
Article date: 
22 July 2014
Article category: 
National News
Medium
Article Body: 

A deluge of Central American children [illegally] pouring into the United States threatens to burst the seams of already overstuffed immigration courts, and President Barack Obama'ssteps to ease the crisis are likely to make matters worse rather than better for some, U.S. officials and immigration lawyers said.

"We are reaching a point of implosion, if we have not already reached it," said Judge Dana Leigh Marks of San Francisco, who has been deciding immigration cases since 1987 and is president of the National Association of Immigration Judges ...

Budget pressures have contributed to the courts' struggles.

With Central American illegal migration accelerating in fiscal 2012, Congress allocated $302 million for the courts. The following year, funding actually fell to $289 million, although this year it has risen slightly to $312 million.

To fulfill Obama's request of 75 more judges, the Justice Department aims to lure 15 judges out of retirement and find another 60 permanent hires from the ranks of immigration lawyers.

But about 100 judges, more than one-third of the stable, are eligible to retire this year, Juan Osuna, director of the department's Executive Office for Immigration Review that administers the courts, told Congress ...


CAIRCO Research

Meet the Director Juan P. Osuna
Juan P. Osuna was appointed as Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review in May 2011

United States Department of Justice

  • The Attorney General - Eric Holder
  • The Deputy Attorney General - James Cole
  • The Associate Attorney General - Tony West

Contact:

Office of the Attorney General
Public Comment Line - 202-353-1555
Department of Justice
Main Switchboard - 202-514-2000 
Email: askdoj@usdoj.gov

Office of Legislative and Public Affairs
5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 1902
Falls Church, VA 20530
703-305-0289
703-605-0365 (fax)
Email: pao.eoir@usdoj.gov

The Office of Legislative and Public Affairs is the principal point of contact with the news media and Congress for the Executive Office for Immigration Review.