The backlog of cases in the nation's immigration courts reached 396,552 at the end of July, up 22 percent since the start of fiscal year 2013, according to a new report.
Based on records obtained from the federal government, the report by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse — a research organization at Syracuse University — shows Georgia ranks ninth among states for the size of its immigration court backlogs at 13,055. That squares with Georgia’s ninth place ranking among states for its total population at 9.9 million.
Such backlogs can delay deportation cases and allow immigrants without legal status to remains in the U.S. for months – or even years — longer. At the same time, such delays can keep immigrants facing deportation locked up longer, thereby increasing taxpayer costs.
TRAC’s report does not cite possible reasons for the backlogs. But federal immigration courts in Atlanta and across the nation have experienced sharp increases in deportation cases involving children amid an influx of Central American juveniles illegally crossing the southwest border.
The Obama administration has said it plans to hire more judges to help battle the backlogs. As of July, there were 243 immigration judges at work nationwide. Of those, five were in Atlanta and three were based at the Stewart Detention Center, a sprawling complex in South Georgia that houses adults facing deportation.
California ranks first among states for the size of its backlog at 81,022 cases followed by Texas, 69,625; New York, 57,204; Florida, 20,992; Illinois, 18,936; New Jersey, 18,446; Virginia, 16,618; Arizona, 14,699.
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