Tabaddor said the backlog of some 750,000 cases was created in part by government bureaucracy and a neglected immigration court system. Curbing immigration is a signature issue for the Trump administration and the jobs of the nation’s more than 300 immigration judges are in a continued spotlight. Immigration court judges have repeatedly asked for independence, and Tabaddor brought it up again Friday, calling the current structure a serious design flaw. This month, he appointed 44 new judges, the largest class of immigration judges in U.S. history, and has pledged to hire more. They also say that immigration judges are overwhelmingly signing off on those recommendations during appeals, effectively ending what could have been a yearslong asylum process almost before it’s begun.

Source: National Post September 21, 2018 21:08 UTC