Immigration backlog could be eased after pilot program, Valley lawyers say

BROWNSVILLE — Prosecutors with Immigration and Customs Enforcement have completed a sweeping review of pending deportation cases in Baltimore and Denver — part of a pilot program that local attorneys said if applied here could alleviate the backlog of immigration cases.

The program, which started Dec. 4 and finished last week, took judges that hear cases for non-detained individuals accused of illegal entry from immigration courts in Denver and Baltimore, and sent these judges to hear priority cases for detained individuals in areas where the system is backlogged.

Meanwhile, as the courts hearing deportation cases for those not detained in the two cities were empty during the six-week period, prosecutors reviewed the pending cases and found thousands eligible for prosecutorial discretion, meaning their deportation cases can be closed for the time being if the individual passes a background check, an ICE official in Washington said.

The official said the program tested in Baltimore and Denver could be applied nationwide to flush out cases draining time and resources.

Prosecutors continue to review the approximately 300,000 deportation cases in courts throughout the country, looking for low-priority cases that can be closed under prosecutorial discretion.

Immigration attorneys in the Rio Grande Valley said the program would greatly improve efficiency in the courts, but some said it is just a temporary measure to aid a strained immigration system in need of wider reform.

"It’s a temporary solution. It’s more of a reality of limited resources," said Jaime Diez, an immigration attorney in Brownsville.

Offering prosecutorial discretion to people who are not a threat frees the judges and prosecutors to tackle deportation cases involving individuals with criminal records, Diez said.

When looking for eligibility for prosecutorial discretion, the ICE official said prosecutors examine factors such as ties to the community, whether the person has sought higher education and whether they have a criminal background.

"It lets them focus on the people that can really be a threat," Diez said.

LIMBO

Yet when a case is closed by prosecutorial discretion, he said, the individual lands in a sort of limbo. They are no longer in deportation proceedings but they don’t have legal status in the country. They can’t legally work or apply for financial aid or government grants that would allow them to pursue education.

Cathy Potter, an immigration attorney based in Harlingen, said she carefully reviews how strong a client’s case is before pursuing prosecutorial discretion.

"If you could be eligible for cancellation of removal, you want to go forward with that," Potter said. "Administratively closed is not decided."

But for individuals with scant chance of meeting requirements to obtain legal status, prosecutorial discretion is a way for such people — often parents of U.S. citizens — to stay in the country with their family, she said.

Carlos M. Garcia, an immigration attorney based in McAllen, said he has obtained prosecutorial discretion for clients who have then pursued education, worked, married and lived their daily lives.

"They’re living like the way the lived before they were detained," he said. "They’re not a threat to the community so it’s a waste of resources to focus on these people."

He said if applied here, the pilot program tested in Baltimore and Denver could relieve the backlogged courts in the Valley.

"When I was in court June of 2011, I was scheduled to come back November 2012," he said.

The pilot program in Denver and Baltimore, which reallocated the time of judges and freed prosecutors’ time to review cases of non-detainees, resulted in the review of almost 8,000 cases in Denver and about 3,800 in Baltimore.

From those cases, prosecutors determined 16 percent from Denver met eligibility requirements for prosecutorial discretion while 10 percent of the cases from Baltimore met the criteria.

The shifted judges — either in person or by videoconference – reviewed tens of thousands of priority cases nationwide, the ICE official said.

The judges are now back in Denver and Baltimore listening to the non-detained cases, the official said, but prosecutors continue to review court dockets.

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Madeline Buckley writes for The Brownsville Herald.