WASHINGTON — The U.S. immigration courts—and the federal immigration enforcement system they support—are facing an unprecedented crisis. With a backlog of nearly 2 million cases, more than 700,000 of which were received last fiscal year, as well as resource and decision-making constraints, it can take years for the system’s 650 or so immigration judges to render decisions. Asylum seekers, who represent 40 percent of the courts’ caseload, now wait four years on average for their initial asylum hearing to be scheduled, with final decisions farther off.
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