U.S. Immigration Courts Took Longer to Complete Cases in 2010
By Iman Omar
According to data collected by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), in 2010, U.S. Immigration Courts took 20.2% longer to complete cases than they did in 2009. On average, it took 280 days to dispose of cases in 2010, up 47 days from 2009’s average of 233 days.
The cases that took longest to complete were those where the court granted relief to remain in the U.S. taking an average of 696 days, up from the 657 day average in 2009. The cases with the shortest completion time were those where a removal order was issued, taking 140 days an increase of 20 days from 2009. Terminated cases with no grounds for removal had the greatest increase from the previous year 424 days on average in 2010, a difference of 85 days from 2009. Voluntary departure cases had the shortest increase from the previous year taking an average of 323 days in 2010, a mere 3 days up from 2009.
Californian courts took the longest overall to complete cases, with an average of 526 days in 2010. The courts that took the shortest amount of time were in Louisiana, with an average of 56 days. Nebraska took the longest to complete relief cases, with an average of 961 days, while Nevada took the shortest amount of time, with 398 days. Louisiana’s removal orders were settled the fastest, taking only an average of 32 days, while Oregon courts took the longest for similar cases, with 446 days.
The cases of Armenian individuals took longest to resolve an average of 1152 days in 2010. Cases for Mexican individuals were resolved the fastest, with an average of 146 days almost 8 times faster than those for Armenians.
Charlotte had the greatest increase in volume of cases decided between 2009 and 2010, with a 40.3% increase followed by Los Angeles (21.3%), Memphis (18.2%), Kansas City (16.2%), and Dallas (15.2%). The greatest decrease was in Harlingen, with a 41.8% decline in 2010 followed by San Diego (-37.4%), Eloy (-36.9%), Florence (-30.8%), and Tacoma (-23.6%).
Nationwide, most courts took longer to resolve cases in 2010. Oakdale saw the largest increase in length of decision times compared to the previous year, by 95.8% – followed by Tacoma (84.3%), Guaynabo (77.7%), Lancaster (65.6%), and San Diego (59.2%). On the other hand, Omaha saw the largest decrease in length of decision times, by 14.7% – followed by San Francisco (-7.6%), Las Vegas (-5.9%), Orlando (-4.1%), and Hartford (-2.5%).
Further data can be found using TRAC’s Immigration Court Outcomes Tool here: http://trac.syr.edu/phptools/immigration/court_backlog/outcomes.php
Reference:
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse http://trac.syr.edu/index.html