Friday 26th February, 2010
Mario Ramos had heard stories. But last month, he finally saw for himself. “It really looked like there were 1,000 people in that ICE line,” said Ramos, a Nashville immigration lawyer. “And those are just the people in Nashville who are on the wait list for an immigration court date to be set.” The immigration court has such a heavy caseload that hundreds of people recommended for deportation haven’t even been given a court date yet. They line up monthly at local immigration offices, where suspected illegal immigrants are asked to check in until a court date can be set.
After three years of stepped-up immigration enforcement, the overloaded court system isn’t keeping pace — and observers say almost nowhere in the country is the problem worse than in Tennessee.
The Memphis-based immigration court — which handles most immigration matters in Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky and the northern half of Mississippi — has one of the nation’s highest caseloads per judge. In 2008, the most recent year for which data are available, Memphis had only two judges to handle about 3,500 pending cases.
About four weeks ago, the situation in Memphis went from busy to something worse. One of the judges was reassigned to Arlington, Va. Now, while there is a judge in one Memphis courtroom, cases assigned to the other are heard by a constantly rotating cast of judges around the country via videoconference.
Less than two full months into 2010, just about any hearing requested is scheduled in 2011.
Family waits and hopes
Jose Resendiz is an illegal immigrant from Mexico with a story that highlights the problems in Tennessee and the need for real immigration reform, said his wife, Christy Resendiz.
He has lived in a state of limbo since his arrest in 2008.
Christy, a U.S. citizen, and Jose, a Mexican national, live with their two children in Greenback, Tenn., about 45 minutes from Knoxville. The couple married in July 2003 and started trying to adjust Jose’s legal status almost right away, Christy said. They expected it to be straightforward, since Jose had married an American citizen, but an ill-timed trip back to Mexico derailed the process.
Seven years later, Jose Resendiz hasn’t been granted a green card or citizenship, but he is on the verge of being forced out of the country. In January 2008, Metro police stopped him in Nashville, saying someone had reported seeing a suspicious Hispanic male. Resendiz, who owns and operates a masonry company, had been in the area to complete a job.
Arrested for driving without a license, Jose Resendiz didn’t see an immigration court judge until November 2009. At the hearing, he was told he would be deported or given the option to voluntarily depart by late March.
Now the family is putting all its hopes on a final request to allow him to stay, but Christy Resendiz thinks he is unlikely to get a hearing or have his case considered by an immigration official in time.
“My son, he isn’t old enough to really understand,” said Christy Resendiz. “But my daughter, she prays every day that her daddy isn’t going to have to take a trip. That’s what she called it when he was in jail and we didn’t see him for six weeks. … I cannot imagine what it will do to me, to my children, to our family, if he cannot come back here for years.”
Justice Department: No 'backlog'
The U.S. Justice Department division that oversees immigration courts denies that there is a “backlog” of cases in Memphis. However, the agency has requested funding to hire about two dozen new judges nationwide.
The Justice Department constantly weighs the availability of resources, the current and projected caseload for each court and the distance between courts, said Katherine Mattingly, a spokeswoman with the Executive Office of Immigration Review. Right now, a single judge in Memphis and others via videoconference are sufficient for the area the court serves, Mattingly said.
For the most part, immigrants and their lawyers don’t have a problem with the fact that court dates are already being set for 2011, said Sean Lewis, a Nashville immigration lawyer. While people are waiting for a court date to be set, some are able to get work permits and continue their lives in the U.S. Others are able to avoid danger or persecution in their homeland.
Seven years later, Jose Resendiz hasn’t been granted a green card or citizenship, but he is on the verge of being forced out of the country. In January 2008, Metro police stopped him in Nashville, saying someone had reported seeing a suspicious Hispanic male. Resendiz, who owns and operates a masonry company, had been in the area to complete a job.
Arrested for driving without a license, Jose Resendiz didn’t see an immigration court judge until November 2009. At the hearing, he was told he would be deported or given the option to voluntarily depart by late March.
Now the family is putting all its hopes on a final request to allow him to stay, but Christy Resendiz thinks he is unlikely to get a hearing or have his case considered by an immigration official in time.
“My son, he isn’t old enough to really understand,” said Christy Resendiz. “But my daughter, she prays every day that her daddy isn’t going to have to take a trip. That’s what she called it when he was in jail and we didn’t see him for six weeks. … I cannot imagine what it will do to me, to my children, to our family, if he cannot come back here for years.”
Justice Department: No 'backlog'
The U.S. Justice Department division that oversees immigration courts denies that there is a “backlog” of cases in Memphis. However, the agency has requested funding to hire about two dozen new judges nationwide.
The Justice Department constantly weighs the availability of resources, the current and projected caseload for each court and the distance between courts, said Katherine Mattingly, a spokeswoman with the Executive Office of Immigration Review. Right now, a single judge in Memphis and others via videoconference are sufficient for the area the court serves, Mattingly said.
For the most part, immigrants and their lawyers don’t have a problem with the fact that court dates are already being set for 2011, said Sean Lewis, a Nashville immigration lawyer. While people are waiting for a court date to be set, some are able to get work permits and continue their lives in the U.S. Others are able to avoid danger or persecution in their homeland.
Source: tennessean.com
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