The Trump administration is putting immigration judges on notice by requiring them to meet case quotas for the first time.
The Justice Department notified immigration judges in a message sent Friday that it will begin evaluating their job performances based on how quickly they close cases, reported The Wall Street Journal.
Judges will reportedly be required to complete 700 cases per year, to see fewer than 15 percent of their decisions returned by a higher court, and to comply with certain procedures that ensure they complete cases swiftly after case hearing dates, according to The Hill.
Effective Oct. 1, the new rules aim to speed up deportation proceedings and reduce the massive and growing backlog in immigration courts.
The case backlog at the end of fiscal year 2017 reached a colossal 629,051, according to a count of public records conducted by Syracuse University in January. The number of pending immigration court cases increased by nearly 30,000 to 658,728 in just the first two months of fiscal year 2018 and continues to rise.
The backlog keeps growing as less cases are closed and more continuances are issued. The quota move is one of several measures the Trump administration plans to take to address the issue.
(Cover Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
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