By Pam
Constable, Published: October 1
For tens of
thousands of immigrants across the United States with pending immigration cases
or legal procedures, the federal
government shutdown will put some urgent matters on hold and allow others
of less importance to move ahead.
Petitions
for political asylum and non-emergency deportation cases are among the
matters that could be delayed for months if the shutdown lasts more than a few
days, according to immigration lawyers and advocates.
Meanwhile, some
services for U.S. citizens and legal residents, which are financed by customer
fees, will continue to be provided. Court hearings or other procedures for any
immigrant who is in federal custody will also continue on schedule, and the
Board of Immigration Appeals will hear requests for emergency relief from
deportation as well as appeals for detained immigrants, according to the
Justice Department.
Nationwide, 16
immigration courts are closed and 42 remain open, 23 of which handle only cases
of detained immigrants.
The asylum
process, advocates in the Washington area and elsewhere said, is especially
backed up, with about 350,000 cases pending before immigration judges. Even
under normal circumstances, most cases take more than a year to complete.
“This is a
nightmare. It is already a nightmare, because of the huge backlog in the court
system,” said Judy London, a lawyer with the Public Counsel agency in Los
Angeles. “When we go into court, we are often told the first available trial
date is a year later. This could mean more delays of months, or even another
year.”
One of London’s
clients is Didier Vakumbua, 43, a medical doctor who fled his native Congo five
years ago after he said police jailed and brutalized him for revealing human
rights atrocities to foreign monitors. He spent several years in California
while his asylum petition worked its way through the system. His wife and
children, meanwhile, sought refuge in another African country.
Last week,
Vakumbua won his case on appeal and began preparing to fly his family to the
United States. Because one child has a brain tumor, he had been granted
emergency permission to bring them quickly. But he still needed one more
judge’s signature on some paperwork — and after the shutdown Tuesday, that
court was suspended.
“I am happy
because I finally won my case, but I am frustrated, too,” Vakumbua said Tuesday
afternoon, speaking a mixture of French and Spanish. “I have been waiting a
very long time to see my family.”
In the
Washington area, officials at the American Immigration Lawyers Association
expressed similar concerns. They noted that only about 10 percent of asylum
applicants are detained and therefore will be allowed to keep any scheduled
court date. For the rest, they said, every delay in the judicial process can
make a crucial difference.
“Situations
change. Memories fade. Evidence gets lost,” said Greg Chen, advocacy director
for the association. “If you have a court date now, and it is kicked off the
calendar, it could be a matter of life and death.” Chen noted that because of
heavy court backlogs, canceled hearings cannot be quickly rescheduled.
Abel Nuñez,
executive director of the Central
American Resource Center in Northwest Washington, said many of his agency’s
clients are involved in more routine matters, such as waiting to become a U.S.
citizen or renewing temporary protective status as a refugee from conflict.
Still, he said, delays in these procedures can also be stressful and confusing.
On Tuesday
morning, Nuñez was told that a Salvadoran student in the District, who
qualified for legal residency under President Obama’s “Dream Act” order, was
scheduled to have her fingerprints and other biometrics taken Wednesday. At
first, he was told the service had been canceled by the shutdown. A few hours
later, he learned that the tests were being offered after all, and that her
appointment was still on.
“It’s good to
have a little positive news, but what really worries me is that this fight over
the shutdown and other issues is pushing immigration reform out of the
picture,” Nuñez said. “There is a lot of friction and smoke in the air, and
there are bigger noises out there now. This is taking the focus off
immigration, and the window is shrinking fast.”
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