Immigration judges will be able to end or dismiss removal proceedings in their courts after the decision of the United States Attorney General, Merrick Garland, who on Thursday restored to them the power to decide some cases that, otherwise, would have spent years stuck in court. system.
This measure will benefit immigrants who can fix their status in other ways
, for example, through a family petition with the Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS).
This will also help those who have an appointment for an interview with the US embassy in the country they are from, as part of their consular processing.
Today "if a person has a case pending in court, the wait is so long that they have to postpone their appointment at the embassy," Alma Rosa Nieto, an immigration lawyer, explains to Telemundo News.
A woman walks past the immigration court in Miami in June 2019. Brynn Anderson / AP
This means economic losses and disappointment for families who have to suspend their trip for the interview because, given the lack of resolution of a pending trial, they lose an available date and must find another space on the calendar.
Some immigrants have been waiting
for years , as many embassies were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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"People who now have the case administratively closed and are waiting for their children to turn 21 (years old) or are waiting for the I-601A waiver (Application for Provisional Waiver for Irregular Presence)" will also benefit, says the expert immigration lawyer , Eduardo Vega.
According to Vega, since Jeff Sessions, who was attorney general in the Trump administration, restricted the discretionary authority of immigration courts to end removal proceedings in 2018, lawyers were required to get the go-ahead from prosecutors first.
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This step used to slow down the whole process, as happened to one of his clients who qualifies for Permanent Residence through the Lawful Immigrant Family Equity Act or 245i.
"He can do the residency right now" and, with this change, he will be able to appeal "directly to the judge," says Vega.
Before, says the lawyer Nieto, "the judges had their hands tied" and they had to proceed with all the cases, even if it implied a delay for the courts "and
it was unfair for the people who were requesting relief before the judge
."
From this new norm, "instead of waiting years for the courts to unburden themselves", people will be able to get a judge to close their cases and resolve their processes before USCIS, obtaining residence more quickly.
“We need more changes”
In his resolution, Garland explained that "pending the outcome of the rulemaking process," judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) "should be empowered to consider and, where appropriate, grant termination” in cases where the requirements are met.
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With this, Vega believes, time will be saved and "slightly faster results" will be obtained.
For Nieto, although the measure will be useful,
"even more changes are needed, more courts, more judges, more efficiency
, and perhaps more cases that can be determined more quickly."
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An October report from the Cato Institute reveals that
some 24 million cases remain unresolved
"in the four departments responsible for enforcing United States immigration law."
A Customs and Border Protection agent reviews immigrant passports in Yuma, Arizona, on December 9, 2021.John Moore/Getty Images
The delays are not isolated, "they are a systemic and growing problem," the document indicates.
As of July 2022, some 1.9 million immigration court cases were still pending.
This is "a 10-fold increase from the 2008 level."
This has increased the waiting time to resolve the processes.
In 2022 each case took, on average, more than three years to decide.
Double that in 2020, according to the Cato Institute report.