Posted on 05/02/2005 1:02:01 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Immigrants fighting to stay in the United States are flooding the federal appellate courts with cases, creating huge backlogs and fundamentally changing the character of the second-highest courts in the nation.
The deluge reflects growing dissatisfaction with the nation's immigration courts, and attorneys representing asylum-seekers and others say they have little choice but to appeal to the federal judiciary.
The trend is nationwide, federal records show, but bearing the brunt of this sudden surge is the San Francisco-based U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. In the year ending June 30, 2001, the immigration caseload was 965. It skyrocketed to 4,835 cases in the year ending in June 2004.
"Three years ago, immigration cases were 8% of our calendar," said 9th Circuit Judge Michael Daly Hawkins. "Today, as we speak, that percentage is 48%."
The 9th Circuit is the nation's largest federal appellate court and has long had a liberal reputation, but its immigration caseload is largely driven by the region it serves: California, eight other states and two territories. The court's 24 judges consider myriad cases that must now compete with the ever-growing immigration backlog.
"There are only so many judges available to hear and decide cases," said 9th Circuit clerk Cathy Catterson, adding that appellate cases used to take about six months to complete; now they can take about nine months.
"We feel overloaded by this problem," said Dorothy Nelson, another 9th Circuit judge. "It's just extraordinary. I've been on the court for 25 years, but I've never seen a rush … overwhelming us like this. Frankly, the immigration system needs to be reformed."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
BTTT...
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Be Ever Vigilant!
Minutemen Patriots ~ Bump!
Former INS Clerk Convicted Of Shredding Records To Reduce Backlog
December 19, 2003
A federal jury in Santa Ana, Calif., convicted a former INS contract clerical worker on Wednesday of two counts of destruction of government documents for shredding paperwork to reduce a backlog and protect his job. Leonel Salazar, 34, was acquitted of three other counts of destruction and a conspiracy charge. He faces up to six years in prison when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alicemarie Stotler on April 12, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Staples.
Prosecutors said Salazar, a former file room senior supervisor at the Immigration and Naturalization Service office in Laguna Niguel, Calif. — now known as the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services — shredded the papers to reduce a 90,000-document backlog and save his job. The documents included passports, birth and marriage certificates and other vital records of immigrants that were supposed to be attached to active files, according to trial testimony.
Salazar was accused of conspiring with Dawn Randall, assistant manager of the file room, but the jury acquitted him of that count. Randall is scheduled to be tried March 16 on the same charges of conspiracy and five counts of destruction of documents.
Defense attorneys for Salazar argued during the trial that he believed the paperwork amounted to non-essential records that usually would be destroyed to hide personal information such as names. Salazar worked for SEI Technology, a private company hired by the INS to file applications for permanent residency, citizenship, work visas and family reunification.
Note: I haven't found any articles regarding a trial for Dawn Randall.
Just bringing the lawsuits Americans won't bring.
Well, true enough, but then we are stupid people in a stupid country with stupid leaders for allowing and enabling lazy bureaucrats in positions that are key to national security.
The unions may be part of the problem for lack of accountability as in the private sector, I know.
Thanks for the post BUMP!!
The solution to this problem is to enforce the law at the border. Nothing else will work.
Everyone I have talked to about this agrees. America is sick of illegal immigration being shoved down our throats with the approval of the "two" parties.
I agree, don't let them in, because if we do it's a huge hassle from there on out to get them to leave.
The existing political class, BOTH parties, have proven themselves to be egotistical, power hungry, career politicians ... NOT leaders. We are nearly 8 TRILLION dollars in debt ($26,000 for every man, woman, and child in the country), we have been being invaded by illegal immigrants for the past ten years, we are dependent upon Mideastern oil for our very existence, etc., etc., etc. ... and our bloated federal bureaucracy is concerned with self perpetuation, NOTHING MORE! The Constitution party is fairly strong in Pennsylvania ... I voted for their candidates in '04 and will continue to do so. IMO NEITHER OF OUR EXISTING POLITICAL PARTIES IS CAPABLE OF GOVERNING. They are career politicians who are in the process of destroying our great country.
I hear ya, they are going to put off SS and mdicare reform until we get a 27% tax hike that will chase the few jobs left out of this country for good. Maybe that's the plan ?
Maybe ... but I don't think they even have a plan other than doing whatever it takes to be reelected ... that is first and foremost in their minds. And, the more federal, state, and local government employees there are, the more secure their positions are.
Also, I was being a bit sly in implying that many/most american citizens became such by "entering" through the womb, not "an established border checkpoint." If we had a foolproof citizen/non-citizen detector (back to argument over national ID), your solution would have more merit.
2. I think that one can apply for asylum within a year of entry, lawful or not. It's then up to the INS/ICE to decide if you qualify.
3. I know of cases where minor aliens show up from god knows where, and are placed with/by church groups and ultimately adopted, leading to legal status.
4. The general process known as "adjustment of status," which can have many, many reasons, is very frequently available to turn illegal entrants into legals, depending on the rules that are written into the law.
Maybe the law should be changed, but it's a long way from being as simple as you state.
Gee, who would'a thunk-it?
Enforce existing laws. What a concept.
Thanks for sharing your insights to a disgusting cancer in our bureaucracy.
Sloth, being one of many.
Precisely! I wonder how many of these posters clamoring to deny due process to alleged illegals, would happily submit to the same treatment were they caught up in a dragnet by accident?
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I would support amending the Fifth and Fourtheenth Amendments to restrict due process and equal protection to citizens, resident aliens, and others with permission to enter, not just "persons", however the burden of proof must be on the Government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the subject of the case is actually here illegally.
Anything less would allow the Government to easily gravely harass persons some individual functionary decided it didn't like.
Thank you for your insight. It appears that we need the private sector to actually do the reading. The government could pay them. The agency you mentioned must be shut down, the spoiled lard-brains layed off. Then we start up a new oversight agency that makes sure the business-run agents do their jobs correctly. Government is much better at oversight than at actually working. That power rush they get seems to motivate them more.
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