Executive Office for Immigration Review Cited For Inefficiency
Thu, Nov 1 2:47 PM
According to a recent report, the U.S. federal court in charge of immigration cases and implementing immigration laws is "flawed," as it is unable to keep up with pending cases despite an increase in the number of presiding judges. The problems found in the system include an exceptionally long completion time for certain immigration cases and appeals, incomplete performance reports with overstated accomplishments and other inaccurate reporting, according to The Washington Times.
The Executive Office for Immigration Review is responsible for judging cases related to undocumented workers and deciding whether illegal aliens should be removed from the United States. Justice Department Inspector Michael Horowitz recently reviewed the EOIR and found that it has failed to process cases in a timely fashion.
From 2006 to 2010, the government added 27 new judges to the court to help handle more cases, but the added manpower did not have the desired effect. The number of immigration court cases completed during that four-year period decreased by 11 percent from 324,040 down to 287,207. Although non-detained aliens waited an average of 17.5 months for a judge's decision, some cases took more than five years to complete.
"Mr. Horowitz' office found that EOIR's performance reporting for both the immigration courts, where alien removal cases are heard, and the Board of Immigration Appeals, which handles appeals from those decisions, was so flawed that Justice Department officials were unable to determine how well immigration cases and appeals were being processed or identifying needed improvements," Jerry Seper wrote in a recent article in The Washington Times.
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