“The irony is not lost on us that immigration court is shut down over immigration.”
Over two weeks into the partial federal government shutdown and with no end in sight, the fight over $5 billion for a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border wall has put the federal immigration system at standstill.
While cases for immigrants in government custody are proceeding, immigration courts are not holding hearings for non-detained immigrants during the shutdown, meaning immigrants re-authorizing work visas, applying for permanent residency, or contesting government charges on deportability are in a precarious situation.
Missing even a single day of hearings could add hundreds to the current backlog of 800,000 cases — over a million if you include the ones the U.S. Attorney General wants on the docket.
View the complete January 7 article by Rebekah Entralgo on the ThinkProgress.org website here.