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Eli Kantor is a labor, employment and immigration law attorney. He has been practicing labor, employment and immigration law for more than 36 years. He has been featured in articles about labor, employment and immigration law in the L.A. Times, Business Week.com and Daily Variety. He is a regular columnist for the Daily Journal. Telephone (310)274-8216; eli@elikantorlaw.com. For more information, visit beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com and and beverlyhillsemploymentlaw.com

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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Migrant Cases' Fast Track Stirs Alarm

Wall Street Journal
By Miriam Jordan
July 28, 2014

LOS ANGELES—A Justice Department push for immigration courts to prioritize cases involving unaccompanied minors has raised concern among lawyers and judges that the move could undermine children's rights and lead to an even greater backlog of cases.

On Monday, attorneys here representing minors seized at the southwest border said that clients weren't being properly notified that their court dates had been moved up, and they expressed concern that many minors wouldn't have enough time to secure an attorney to represent them if cases are fast-tracked.

"Due process means a fair process that enables a person to come before a judge or adjudicator and explain what has happened, such that a judge can make a decision to whether the individual qualifies for the laws' protections," said Gregory Chen, a director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "If we do it in condensed way, it's rushed justice that results in no justice at all."

In the nation's immigration courts, individuals seized at the border aren't guaranteed access to a lawyer. But judges often delay cases involving children to give them time to find lawyers, who are sometimes provided by legal-aid groups.

Those who enter the U.S. illegally have a significantly better chance of winning the right to stay if they have a lawyer, according to a recent analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a project at Syracuse University.

Nearly half of all minors represented by lawyers in immigration court in the past decade eventually won permission to remain in the U.S. Nine out of 10 without legal representation were returned to their countries, the analysis showed.

A bipartisan bill in Congress sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D., Texas) seeks to further expedite the processing of unaccompanied minors. It would empower Border Patrol agents to decide whether a child should be sent home immediately or given the opportunity to a court hearing. Judges would be required to make a final decision within seven days.

In one case of accelerated review, the father of two Guatemalan minors who recently joined him in Virginia received a notice in the mail on Saturday telling him his two daughters should be in court in Los Angeles on Monday, their attorney said. Previously, they had been told the first hearing would be on Sept. 10. A judge can order those who miss a court date be deported.

On Monday, the judge agreed to a request filed by the lawyer to transfer the case to a Virginia court from Los Angeles, where the girls had been temporarily sheltered. A later court date will be set.

"In the interest of moving these cases through as quickly as possible, they are just ignoring the basic rules of due process," said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, the family's lawyer at Legal Aid Justice Center.

This month, the Justice Department announced steps to more swiftly address the influx of Central American migrants in the U.S. It said the department's Executive Office for Immigration Review would prioritize cases involving young migrants to "enable prompt removal in appropriate cases, while ensuring the protection of asylum seekers and others."

In a letter sent last week to Senate and House leaders, the National Association of Immigration Judges, said that "speeding up or truncating the process creates an unacceptably high risk of legal errors."

It warned that the effect could be a rash of appeals, creating even greater backlogs and delays in higher courts.

The letter also noted that the court system is overburdened and requires more immigration judges and support staff. It said that 228 full-time immigration judges currently handle more than 375,500 cases. The average time to decide a case has climbed to 587 days, it said.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) on Monday opened the door to separating funding for fighting wildfires and Israel's missile defense system from legislation aimed at easing the border crisis.

A bill from Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D., Md.) last week providing $2.7 billion to address the border crisis is expected to face resistance from some lawmakers, and separating the bill could ease passage of the funding for Israel and the western fires.

President Barack Obama has requested $3.7 billion in funding to address the immigration crisis, a figure that includes $64 million for the Justice Department to add immigration judges and to provide children with lawyers and legal assistance.


For more information, go to:  www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com

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