Monday, February 9, 2009

Immigration Crackdown Overwhelms Judges

Over the past few years, the Bush administration's immigration crackdown funded thousands more agents to arrest immigrants and hundreds more government lawyers to prosecute them.
But immigration judges — who adjudicate deportation and asylum hearings — have been left out of this expansion, and they say they're struggling under a staggering caseload.

Marks, who heads the National Association of Immigration Judges, says she can definitely feel like Lucy Ricardo on the chocolate-factory line. But with many defendants seeking refuge from persecution, the frenetic work pace is hardly a comedy.

"For some people, these are the equivalent of death penalty cases, and we are conducting these cases in a traffic court setting."

Read More At NPR

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