A national report suggests illegal aliens are being held in detention centers as long as three years, due to a backlog of cases. The problem may be even worse, locally.
Houston immigration attorney Ivan Neel says he has clients who face even more waiting.
“I have clients that have cases scheduled for November of 2019, not only one, but many,” Neel says, adding, “other immigration attorneys in the Houston area are going to be finding themselves with the same issues.”
Huge numbers of people crossing the border have backed up the courts.
“There definitely is a backlog of court cases, in Houston especially,” he confirms. “There was a stoppage of hiring of judges in the last couple of years. Now, they've actually hired two or three new judges in the Houston area, so they're trying to relieve some of that congestion.”
Nationwide, the number of pending immigration cases has topped 540-thousand. The average length of time before an illegal alien faces a judge right now is 673 days -- but much longer in Texas and California.