Border Kids

NYT Notes ‘Border Kid’ Crisis Is Not Over, But Has Moved

September 15, 2015 By CCM Staff

As reported by NPR: Detainees sleep and watch television in a holding cell where hundreds of mostly Central American immigrant children are being processed at a U.S. Customs facility in Nogales, Texas.

The New York Times has an important story about the “Border Kids” who arrived in the country amid headlines last summer. The paper notes that the number of kids has dropped, but the crisis has moved to courts. Meanwhile, a federal judge in California has given the U.S. government mere weeks to shut down several “family detention” centers because they are illegal.

On the court crisis, the NYT backgrounder is that “… about 84,000 children were apprehended at the Southwest border during the 2014 fiscal year and the first six months of the 2015 fiscal year, according to the Border Patrol. Of the 79,088 removal cases initiated by the government, 15,207 children had been ordered deported as of June, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Washington.

“While a small percentage of children have been granted asylum, most are seeking relief from deportation by applying for special immigrant juvenile status, federal officials said. And yet, rather than their claims being expedited, 69 percent of the children on the priority docket still have cases pending, statistics show.

“The burden is far more difficult for children if they do not have a lawyer — a right not granted to defendants in immigration courts — especially because of the accelerated time frame the government established for their cases. After being released to a sponsor, usually a relative, they are on the clock: They are required to make their first court appearance within 21 days of the court’s receiving their case to contest their deportation.”

Read the excellent report here: Immigration Crisis Shifts From Border to Courts

For a refresher on the Family Detention Center, check out our late August blogs, “Obama Admin. Fighting To Keep Family Detention Centers” and “Judge Orders Govt. To Release Detained Kids.”

Filed Under: Border Kids, Courts Budget, National Tagged With: 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Border Kids, California, children, court backlog, court budget, court funding, Dreamers, family detention center, federal court, illegal aliens, illegals, immigration, immigration reform

Drowned Syrian Toddler Should Prompt Look Closer To Home

September 3, 2015 By CCM Staff

Images of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, one of at least 12 Syrians who drowned trying to flee that war-torn region, have broken through the news clutter to actually shock the world. But they should also remind us that

AP photo used in Tampa Bay Times report on 12/22/14 shows “Young detainees sleep in a holding cell on June 18, 2014, at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility in Brownsville,Texas.”

the United States has a refugee crisis of its own, and a federal judge has ordered the “family detention camps” closed later this month because they are illegal. The immigration courts are swamped, cases are backed up for years and thousands of “border kids” are in dangerous limbo.

To refresh your memory from when our domestic crisis was seizing the world stage, look here:

United States refugee children – Google Search

Filed Under: Border Kids, Community, Courts Budget, National Tagged With: #AylanKurdi, Aylan Kurdi, Border Kids, civil unrest, immigration, Middle East, Refugee Crisis, Refugees, Syria

Obama Admin. Fighting To Keep Family Detention Centers

August 27, 2015 By CCM Staff

As reported in Politico on 8/7/15: US citizens Esmeralda Tepetate, 10, with her brother Sebastian, 2, whose parents are originally from Mexico, holds a sign that says “stop separating families” during a rally for comprehensive immigration reform, Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, outside of the White House in Washington. After the midterm elections immigration groups are pushing for executive action. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Politico and others are reporting that the Obama administration is asking a federal judge to reconsider her ruling that the U.S. must release of tens of thousands of immigrant mothers and children who tried to cross the southern border illegally. Says Politico: “… in a 60-page response filed late Thursday, Justice Department lawyers argued that family detention facilities run by the Department of Homeland Security are a necessary tool to help deter illegal migration to the United States.”

The judge’s order is starting to gain notice, as has the family detention issue. President Obama also finds himself at odds with his own party, according to Politico, which reports that “… detaining immigrant families caught at the border have run into steep opposition from Democrats on Capitol Hill. Nearly all members of the House Democratic Caucus signed onto a letter circulated last week by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a former immigration attorney who is the ranking member on a House subcommittee overseeing the policy.”

“It is long past time to end family detention,” the House Democrats wrote in the letter. “In light of this recent federal court ruling, we urge you take all necessary and appropriate steps to bring the Department’s practices in line with the settlement agreement and the recent court ruling.” Keep track of the slow-burning fuse here:

Read more: DOJ fights family detention ruling (Politico)

Filed Under: Border Kids, Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: Border Kids, court backlog, court budget, court funding, immigration, immigration reform

L.A. Times Calls Out Congress Over Immigration Court Backlog

August 26, 2015 By CCM Staff

In a major editorial, the Los Angeles Times is calling upon Congress to fix the immigration court backlog and offers some compelling numbers in the process: “… over the last 10 years, the workload of the federal immigration court system has increased by 146% to an astounding 453,948 active cases at the end of July. The average amount of time each of those cases has been pending: 627 days. Some have been lingering for years.”

The LAT also notes that the backlog effects are exactly what we don’t want: People who have no legal right to be in the country get lengthy reprieves simply because the judges can’t get to their cases while those with legit claims are left “twisting in the wind.”

The editorial says that “… the reason for the enormous backlog is clear. While the government has poured money into enhancing border security — the number of border agents has nearly doubled to 21,000 in the last decade — it has failed to similarly increase the capacity of the immigration court system that hears deportation cases. According to a recent report, immigration enforcement budgets increased 300% from 2002 through 2013, but immigration court budgets rose only 70%.

The immigration courts are really an international embarrassment for the United States. The LAT editorial shows just how bad it is, and why it’s likely to get worse: The immigration court backlog: Why won’t Congress act?

Filed Under: Border Kids, Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: Border Kids, court backlog, court budget, court funding, immigration, immigration reform

Judge Orders Govt. To Release Detained Kids

August 24, 2015 By CCM Staff

A federal judge in Los Angeles has given the federal government until Oct. 23 to release thousands of “border kids” seeking refuge in the United States. The Los Angeles Times explains that Judge Dolly Gee said that children should not be held for more than 72 hours unless they are a significant flight risk or a danger to themselves and others.

The LAT story also noted that “… the case centers on 1997 legal settlement — known as the Flores agreement — that set legal requirements for the housing of children seeking asylum or in the country illegally. In July, Gee found that the government had violated that agreement; she repeated that findingFriday. Federal attorneys had argued that Gee’s initial ruling would spark another surge of illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border. Gee denied the government’s request for reconsideration, equating that argument to “fearmongering.”

The Times feels that “… it’s likely that hundreds of immigrant families will remain locked up and in limbo as the case makes its way through the courts — possibly up to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.”

Read the story here: Judge orders prompt release of immigrant children from detention

Filed Under: Border Kids, Community, National Tagged With: 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Border Kids, California, children, Dreamers, family detention center, federal court, illegal aliens, illegals, immigration, immigration reform

A Year Later: Obama Border Kids Processing Rush Still Claiming Victims

August 12, 2015 By CCM Staff

POLITICO has published a jarring one-year “lookback piece” on those border kids seeking refuge in the United States – you recall, the ones making headlines last summer. The report says that: “… one year later, child migrants from Central America are still paying a heavy price for President Barack Obama’s decision last summer to rush them into deportation proceedings without first taking steps to provide legal counsel. New government data this week offer a first, full-year tally for the immigration courts, and the numbers show that among the 13,451 cases completed since July 18, 2014, barely half the children had legal representation.”

Some local governments, including those in San Francisco and New York City, have stepped in to try to fill some of the holes but POLITICO notes that “… Republicans in Congress are refusing to provide money sought by Obama for attorneys. And a bill introduced by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) in March to require the Justice Department to appoint counsel remains buried in the House Judiciary Committee. The political stalemate in Washington has driven constitutional appeals to the federal courts, but thus far, these have produced more promises than real relief.

Indeed, says POLITICO, “… after all of the public furor over the border surge last summer, the children seem to have dropped off the political map.”

Filed Under: Border Kids, Community, National Tagged With: Border Kids, immigration, Obama, Politico

Federal Judge Ready To Close 3 Immigration Detention Centers

July 30, 2015 By CCM Staff

A federal judge is poised to order immigration authorities to close three family detention centers housing some 1,700 people awaiting decisions on their stay-or-go arguments. Dolly Gee, a U.S. District judge in Southern California, ruled that federal authorities have violated key provisions of an 18-year-old court settlement that placed restrictions on detention of migrant children.

The Los Angeles Times notes that “… The ruling, released late Friday, is another blow to President Obama’s immigration policies and leaves questions about what the U.S. will do with the large number of children and parents who crossed the border from Latin America last year.”

Judge Gee blasted the government and the conditions at both the detention centers (two in Texas and one in Pennsylvania) as she gave the government until Aug. 3 to explain why an order she plans to issue should not be implemented within 90 days. Read the LAT report here:

Judge blasts ICE, says immigrant children, parents in detention centers should be released

Filed Under: Border Kids, Community, National Tagged With: Border Kids, Dreamers, family detention center, federal judge, ICE, immigration, immigration reform

California, Texas Lead In Immigration Court Delays

July 15, 2015 By CCM Staff

It may the one of the few places where Texas does not mind being second to California: immigration case backlog. A Houston Chronicle newspaper report notes that “… the stack of cases at Texas’ overburdened immigration courts grew by nearly 60 percent since October 2013, bringing the state’s pending cases to a record high of nearly 77,000, making it the largest backlog in the country after California.”

The delays are truly staggering, especially for younger people. The Chronicle says “… nationwide it now takes an average of 604 days to process an immigration case, according to an analysis of federal data through April by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. In Houston, where the pending case load grew by 13 percent from late 2013 to nearly 32,000 so far this year, the highest in the state, the delay is 636 days.”

That’s to be “processed.” Some cases are taking five years to resolve. The HC explained that “… the long overburdened and underfunded immigration court system has been further overwhelmed by the influx of more than 67,000 unaccompanied Central American children who streamed across the Southwest border in 2014. In response, the Obama administration prioritized their cases and those of other migrants who arrived here last year to deter more from coming.” That means folks waiting years for a day in court might have to wait years longer.

(Immigration courts are not criminal courts, but rather an administrative function of the Justice Department and are considered civil cases.) Read more here.

Filed Under: Border Kids, Community Tagged With: asylum, Border Kids, california courts, court backlog, detainees, federal courts, ICE, immigration, immigration court, Texas courts

Report Offers Details About Immigration Court Backlog

July 8, 2015 By CCM Staff

As reported in Al Jazeera America: “The nation’s immigration courts got a bit of relief at the beginning of June, when the Department of Justice hired 18 new immigration judges. But the courts are still facing a major backlog.Illustration by Sam Ward for Al Jazeera America”

A new report by Bruce Wallace, writing for Al Jazeera America, details just how stalled the nation’s busiest immigration courts are, and how backlogged they remain. Writing from New York, he reports that “… depending on how you count it, this courthouse — actually a collection of 31 small courtrooms scattered across two floors of a tall federal office building in downtown Manhattan — is either the busiest or second busiest of the 58 immigration courts in the country. The one in Los Angeles got more new cases last year — a little over 18,000, compared with around 17,700 for Manhattan. But Manhattan has more cases pending: 60,538 compared with 51,878 in L.A. Or, on average, about 2,240 cases per New York judge. Judges in comparable courts have about 700 cases a year, according to the American Bar Association.

The story goes on: “Death-penalty cases in a traffic-court setting” is how Dana Leigh Marks likes to put it. She’s an immigration judge in San Francisco and president of the National Association of Immigration Judges (and, as such, one of two immigration judges in the country who are permitted to speak to the media). “The volume alone is like traffic court, and yet the stakes for someone who asserts a claim of asylum, if I am wrong — or even if I’m right but, because the law doesn’t allow me to grant relief, I have to deny them — they could be going back and facing death.”

Immigration courts, despite their name, are not actually part of the federal courts system. They are part of the Justice Department and the judges do not have much power over their colleagues who represent the government. They are civil courts, so there is no right to have counsel provided. Nationally, some 450,000 cases are pending with wait times reaching half a decade.

Read the Wallace story here: Immigration judges make life-altering decisions in overbooked courts | Al Jazeera America

Filed Under: Border Kids, Community, Courts Budget, National Tagged With: access to justice, border crisis, Border Kids, immigration, immigration reform, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement

NYT Gives Family Detention Camps Front-Page Status

June 16, 2015 By CCM Staff

The Sunday New York Times gave migrant detention centers front-page treatment, profiling a big camp in Texas. Activists will no doubt note that the report does not mention the context of the detentions – nearly a half-million migrants await their day in immigration court – or that the “courts” are actually administration employees and part of the justice department.

But there is some notice taken on the lack of lawyers and that some people languish because they can’t post the “bond” to get out. The one amount noted in the report was $1,500.

Says the NYT: “While the number of people crossing the border illegally has dropped sharply this year, families continue to come. Since Oct. 1, more than 17,000 parents and children have been caught along the Southwest border, according to official figures. At the Dilley camp, more than half the detainees are children. Their average age is 9… The centers were designed to hold the women while they fight their cases in the immigration courts, part of the administration’s expansion of family detention to more than 3,000 beds nationwide, from only 95 a year ago.”

We will see if the NYT treatment is enough to make the issue a priority. Read the story here.

Filed Under: Border Kids, Community Tagged With: Border Kids, family detention, immigration courts, immigration reform