Representation is Key in Immigration Proceedings Involving Women with Children
This past summer, the Immigration Courts adopted new rules that gave priority to scheduling the cases of women and children seeking refuge in this country in response to the sudden influx of such cases. These new procedures followed the Obama Administration’s action seeking to expedite their removal. Up until then, while EOIR had special rules for treating unaccompanied juveniles, the Court had not designated proceedings involving an adult with one or more juvenile children for special handling. The new docketing system required this new class of cases be flagged so that they could be given priority over other cases on its docket.
This report presents new data on the status of these 26,342 specially flagged “adults with children” proceedings as of the end of January 2015. It is based on case-by-case records obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University from the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) under the Freedom of Information Act. While most cases are still pending, two strong patterns are already emerging:
Less than 30 percent of these families have been able to find representation.
Without representation, women with children almost never prevail even after they are able to demonstrate “credible fear” of returning to their own country — only 1.5 percent were allowed to stay. While few decisions have occurred in represented cases, the win rate thus far has been 26.3 percent.
KJ