GAO: 437,000 deportation cases backlogged, hearings delayed to 2022

The government's processing of illegal immigrants has broken down as the number of backlogged court cases has grown to a ratio of 1,456 per judge, prompting some courts to schedule deportation cases as far out as February 2022, according to a new Government Accountability Office assessment.

The audit agency tabulated a total of 437,000 pending cases, double what it was in 2006. What's more, the normal wait time for illegals to face a judge has grown from 198 days to 404 days.

But an analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies found that in some of the 58 immigration courts that employ about 300 immigration judges the backlog has become so bad that hearing dates are being set as far out as 2022.

CIS pulled this nugget out of the 153-page GAO report that highlights the backlog issue:

"As of February 2, 2017, half of courts had master calendar hearings scheduled as far as January 2018 or beyond and had individual merits hearings, during which immigration judges generally render case decisions, scheduled as far as June 2018 or beyond. However, the range of hearing dates varied; as of February 2, 2017, one court had master calendar hearings scheduled no further than March 2017 while another court had master calendar hearings scheduled in May 2021, more than 4 years in the future. Similarly, courts varied in the extent to which individual merits hearings were scheduled into the future. As of February 2, 2017, one court had individual hearings scheduled out no further than March 2017 while another court had scheduled individual hearings 5 years into the future, February 2022."...