美国国家公共电台 NPR--Immigration judge says trial workloads and resource constraints are 'a problem'

Immigration judge says trial workloads¹ and resource constraints² are 'a problem'

Transcript³

In the days before last week's end of the pandemic-era policy known as Title 42, around 10,000 people were crossing the southern border into the U.S. per day. That number had dropped nearly 50% by the weekend. But millions of cases involving asylum⁴ seekers are pending⁵.

Mimi Tsankov, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, tells Morning Edition that although the Biden Administration pledges to hire more judges, "it will always be a problem trying to meet 2.1 million cases."

"If you do the math on that, even with the, I think, 700 judges that we have now or so, that's 3500 cases per judge," Tsankov explains. "That's assuming we didn't even get any new cases coming through the door, which, as we know, will not be the case. So it's a problem."

With the U.S. reverting⁶ back to rules including expedited removals and a new mandate⁷ that migrants must seek asylum in a nation they pass through before applying to enter the U.S., Tsankov tells NPR's A Martinez that immigration courts are still lacking the resources required to manage the current caseload.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

A Martínez: Do you expect that backlog⁸ to get worse?

Mimi Tsankov: With those backlogs⁹ at an all time high of over 2.1 million cases currently pending, it's only going to get worse. Right now, the judges have about 3500 cases that they have on their individual dockets at the 69 courts around the country. And we're really concerned whether we're going to be able to meet the expectations of the administration in resolving these cases expeditiously¹⁰.

On the factors they consider when deciding asylum cases

Mimi Tsankov: If they are trying to establish that they have would suffer political persecution¹¹, they might present a card that shows that they've been a member of a political party, they might show documents to establish maybe in the newspaper that they attended a rally and that there was some sort of government persecution of their activities in that rally. If it's a religious based persecution, they might show us a baptismal certificate or some sort of religious certificate of some type or their attendance at religious ceremonies.

On stresses on the immigration court docket

Mimi Tsankov: The immigration judges are hearing cases day in and day out, usually 3 to 4 trials a day. So with 3500 cases pending, we just don't get as much time as we'd like to be able to devote to each and every one of the cases.

A Martínez: Do things move quicker when someone has a lawyer with them?

Mimi Tsankov: We always encourage the respondents to seek representation because, as you know, they don't have the right to free representation in immigration court. Fortunately, there are a lot of non-governmental organizations that are providing some assistance to them. And one of the most recent initiatives that the administration just came out with was something called the Council for Children initiative that is in eight courts around the country.

On how asylum cases will be prioritized

A Martínez: The older cases, are they going to be handled first in front of the newer ones?

Mimi Tsankov: No. Well, it just depends. At this time, it'll depend on what the administration decides will be the priority and law enforcement priorities prevail.

1 workloads   

（某一人或组织）工作量，工作负担( workload的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Project management software can provide such visibility into everyone's skills and workloads. 项目管理软件可以提供这样的能见度到每个人的技能和工作量。
• Doctors have complained of heavy workloads. 医生投诉工作越来越繁重。

2 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

5 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

6 reverting   

恢复( revert的现在分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还

参考例句：

• The boss came back from holiday all relaxed and smiling, but now he's reverting to type. 老板刚度假回来时十分随和，满面笑容，现在又恢复原样了。
• The conversation kept reverting to the subject of money. 谈话的内容总是离不开钱的事。

7 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

8 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

9 backlogs   

积压未办之事( backlog的名词复数 )； 没交付的订货； 备用； 备用物

参考例句：

• "You'll need kindling and medium wood and logs and backlogs. “点火柴、引火柴、原木、垫底的，你都用得着。” 来自名作英译部分
• Our manufacturers have heavy backlogs on their hands. 我们的生产厂商手头有许多积压而没有交付的订单。

10 expeditiously   

adv.迅速地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• They have to be evaluated expeditiously, carefully with the patient fully UNDRESSED. 我看过许多的枪伤患者，但是就只有阿扁的伤口没有上述情形，真是天佑台湾。 来自互联网
• We will expeditiously facilitate trade transactions with the utmost professionalism. 我们会尽快贸易便利化的交易与最大的专业水平。 来自互联网

11 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。