Democrats ask federal watchdog to examine ‘unprecedented’ immigration backlog

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.)

The backlog of cases in the immigration courts have reached record levels. According to the American Immigrantion Council, “Since President Trump took office, the backlogs have grown by 51 percent (an additional 300,000 cases). At the current rate of growth, the backlog would double in Trump’s first term in office to over one million pending cases, significantly quicker than under President Obama. When Obama took office in 2009, there were over 186,000 pending cases in immigration court, increasing to over 516,000 cases eight years later.”

Abigail Hauslohner reports for the Washington Post that more than 80 Democratic members of Congress have asked the Government Accountability Office to conduct an investigation into the “record-breaking” backlog of immigration cases pending under the Trump administration. “Processing delays for applications and immigration benefits have reached crisis levels and these delays are hurting families and businesses that depend on timely adjudications,” Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.) and 81 other lawmakers wrote in a letter, submitted to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro.  The lawmakers specifically criticized U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, saying they are “alarmed” that the agency “is adjudicating cases at an increasingly slow pace compared to previous years.”

KJ