CNN by Priscilla Alvarez 9/18/2019
Immigration courts, which fall under the Justice Department and decide whether to deport immigrants, have been bogged down over the years as more cases are added to the docket that can be addressed at any given time.
"If nothing else, the continuing rise of the backlog shows that the immigration court is broken," said Judge Ashley Tabaddor, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges. "Until we fix the design defect of having a court in a law enforcement agency, we will not be able to address the backlog in a fair and effective manner."
President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the nation's immigration system, specifically taking issue with the practice of releasing immigrants while they await their court dates. To remedy that, his administration has sought to hire more immigration judges in the hopes of unclogging the court. Even so, the number of cases has continued to tick upward.
During the last partial government shutdown, for example, the only cases that moved forward were those of immigrants in detention. All others were postponed.
More:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/18/politics/immigration-court-backlog/index.html
