Immigration courts are taking longer these days to hear and process cases, including those that end with deportation orders. The specialized courts took an average of 280 days during FY 2010 to complete cases, which was 47 days longer (or 20%) than the previous year. In cases where the court decided to allow an immigrant to remain in the U.S., the average length of time for a ruling was 696 days (23 days longer than FY 2009), which is almost 23 months. Deportation orders took an average of 140 days to be issued, which was almost 17% longer than the year before.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Immigration Courts Taking Longer to Reach Decisions (Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse)