Under Trump: Civil Lawsuits Up To Redress Immigration Action and Inaction
The latest available data from the federal courts show that, as of the end of March 2017, there have been 763 new civil immigration lawsuits filed in disputes involving immigration matters since January 20, 2017 when President Trump assumed office. Almost all of these lawsuits have been brought by immigrants seeking redress from federal government action or inaction. These suits typically involve petitions for release from detention, or seek action on a visa or naturalization application.
The growth in these suits began during Obama‘s presidency. Starting around March 2015, the number of these lawsuits filed each month began to rise. The latest figures through March 2017 indicate this increase has continued after President Trump assumed office.
According to the case-by-case court records analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, during March 2017 there were 318 new federal civil filings involving these immigration matters. This number is up 5.6 percent over the previous month when the number of civil filings of this type totaled 301. See Table 1.
When monthly 2017 civil immigration filings are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, their number was up 40.5 percent. Civil filings for March 2017 are higher than they were for the same period five years ago. Overall, the data show that civil filings of this type are up 105.6 percent from levels reported in March 2012.
KJ