Immigration Court Case Completions: Representation by Counsel Increases over the Last Five Years
Earlier this week, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) released its Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 Statistics Yearbook. We have been providing some snapshots of the the data.
Immigration Court Completions by Language: The Top 5
Asylum Grants by Country of Nationality: The Top 25
Here are statistics on initial case completions for persons represented by counsel (page F1):
FY 2010 40% 215,280 total cases
FY 2011 42% 209,277
FY 2012 50% 188,219
FY 2013 59% 173,161
FY 2014 55% 167,774
The Immigration & Nationality Act does not guarantee counsel for noncitizens in removal proceedings, even for lawful permanent residents.
I am not sure what explains the increasing percentage of noncitizens who are represented over the five years. The initial case completions have dropped by about 25% over that period, which may mean that the same number of lawyers had fewer cases (thus increasing the number of cases in which noncitizens were represented).
KJ