WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department's inspector general says the government is not keeping up with the caseload in federal immigration courts, even with an increase in the number of judges handling the cases.
In a report released Thursday, Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz said record-keeping by the immigration courts is so flawed that it is difficult to draw conclusions about why the courts are unable to reduce the volume of cases.
From 2006 to 2010, the number of new immigration cases rose from 308,652 to 325,326. At the same time, the number of proceedings the immigration courts completed declined about 11 percent, from 324,040 in 2006 to 287,207 in 2010.
During that period, the government added 27 more immigration judges, boosting the total to 238.
