Last year’s border surge of unaccompanied minors has stalled the immigration courts, creating an average 3 year wait time for illegal-alien adults with only one in six minors showing up for their legal hearings according to the Migration Policy Institute report.
Since the spring of 2014 around 102,000 unaccompanied minors have been arrested at the border. In response a special rush system was put into place to put minors ahead of illegal-alien adults. As of August 31, 2015 61% of all cases involving minors are still unresolved pushing the waiting time for illegal alien adults to an average of 1,071 days.
"For those cases that have been resolved, the ones that ended in an order of deportation have largely been unexecuted; and of those ending in some form of relief, many children have not received lawful immigration status," wrote report author Sarah Pierce, an MPI research assistant.
The report also showed that one in six minors fail to appear at immigration hearings and are automatically ordered deported, yet most of the deportation orders of minors go unexecuted. Only about 1,863 have been removed from the 13,204 ordered to be deported.
The House Judiciary Committee has passed bill H.R. 1153 that will help increase immigration judges and orders the immediate removal of any illegal aliens, including unaccompanied minors, without a credible asylum claim. The bill strengthens asylum standards during the initial screening process before illegal aliens are released into the United States. “By providing additional resources, we can more efficiently assess the credibility of claims and reduce the wait times for those with legitimate asylum requests. As a result, unaccompanied children can safely and swiftly be reunited with their families. Furthermore, by strengthening the standards for ‘credible fear’ claims, we will have the ability to more quickly identify those abusing the asylum program and provide a disincentive for others to follow their lead,” said Rep. Chaffetz (R-UT) who authored the bill.
Read more at The Washington Examiner.
