The Department of Justice released new numbers this week showing federal immigration attorneys and judges are making their way through the extensive case backlog for illegal aliens and asylum seeks.
"The Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) today announced the agency’s case completion numbers topped 275,000 cases for fiscal year 2019 (FY19), the second highest number of case completions in EOIR’s history. This number marks an increase of roughly 80,000 case completions from fiscal year 2018 (FY18), the same year that EOIR established case completion goals for immigration judges in response to years of declining or stagnant productivity. The FY19 numbers are nearly double the number of completed cases from just three years ago," DOJ released in a statement.
Over the past two years, President Trump ordered the hiring of additional immigration court judges along the southern border with Mexico. The additional resources were provided as hundreds-of-thousands of Central Americans entered the United States, with most falsely claiming asylum.
"Our immigration courts are doing everything in their power to efficiently adjudicate immigration cases while respecting due process rights, but efficient adjudication alone cannot resolve the crisis at the border,” EOIR Director James McHenry said in a statement. “While EOIR is doing an unprecedented job adjudicating cases fairly and expeditiously, the nearly one million case backlog will continue to grow unless Congress acts to address the crisis at the border.”
New illegal crossing numbers were also released this week and have declined for the fourth month in a row.
Sept. marked the lowest number of law enforcement actions in FY19—the 4th month of a steady decline. This is an unprecedented achievement & it’s due to @POTUS’ work with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries to join as true partners to address this as a regional crisis. pic.twitter.com/cK15Sr1kK1
— Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan (@CBPMarkMorgan) October 8, 2019
Illegal crossings at our southwest border have now declined for 4 months straight.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 8, 2019
It's directly due to President @realDonaldTrump's work with our partners in Mexico and the Northern Triangle. pic.twitter.com/Oq3reXnzmt
Meanwhile, construction on the border wall continues.