RELEASE: Stivers, Gonzalez Amendment Seeks to Hire Additional Judges to Speed Consideration of Asylum Requests

Press Release

Representatives Steve Stivers (R-OH) and Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) have offered two amendments to H.R. 3055, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2020, that seek to double the number of new immigration judges and support staff hired to process migrants entering our country and decrease the hiring time for new judges.

Despite a growing number of individuals seeking asylum, the number of judges and support staff has remained stagnant, resulting in an exacerbation of the backlog and overstressing of resources. H.R. 3055 takes steps to address the problem by including funding for 100 additional judges and support staff. The Stivers-Gonzalez amendment goes further, and requests appropriations needed for an additional 100 teams that, if adopted, would combine to add 200 new judge teams to help decrease detention periods and expedite the processing for those entering the U.S.

A second amendment to H.R. 3055 offered by Representatives Stivers and Gonzalez seeks to reduce hiring time for the judges. Under current conditions, it takes approximately two years to complete the hiring process. The amendment cuts that time in half while simultaneously including controls to ensure quality of judges does not decline.

"Justice delayed is justice denied. To have hundreds of thousands of individuals stuck in limbo is a failure of our nation of laws and a failure to respect the dignity and rights of migrants seeking a better life in our country," Congressman Stivers said. "As a legislator, it is not my place to comment on the decisions of the judicial branch and how many claims they are accepting or rejecting, but it is Congress's place to ensure that they have the resources to do their jobs.

This effort is about providing the gold standard of due process to all migrants seeking entry into the U.S. Our nation should ensure every individual is treated humanely and with the full protections and rights afforded by our judicial system. This is the type of commonsense effort to address the immigration problem that should have support from both sides of the aisle."

"The backlog of immigration cases is recklessly dysfunctional and causes uncertainty to all parties," said Congressman Gonzalez. "We should be able to hold hearings within a few months from when someone arrives to our country. While we cannot overhaul the system overnight, hiring additional qualified immigration judges and support staff can help us to drastically reduce wait times for migrants. In order to effectively address this issue, we need to put our money where our mouth is. Our bipartisan solution would do just that."

BACKGROUND:

An asylee has two options when applying for asylum: if the individual is physically present in the United States, regardless of how he or she entered, he or she may apply affirmatively, and their request is considered by U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) with a decision rendered within 180 days. However, a USCIS officer may decide to refer the case to an immigration judge, with nearly 30,000 referrals being made in FY2017.

If the individual is apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP), he or she may seek asylum as a defense against deportation. This defensive asylum process is determined by an immigration court and an immigration judge under the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR). Between USCIS and EOIR, there were over 700,000 pending cases in FY2018 with an average wait time of 721 days

Source