How immigration courts are processing migrant children

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Podcasts Take Two

Jul 31, 2014

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How immigration courts are processing migrant children

Many of the recent migrant children from Central America are now in Southern California awaiting their fate in immigration court. To deal with this crisis, the Justice Department says it will now fast-track cases.

A Salvadorian family waits at the Greyhound bus station for their trip to Houston on July 25, 2014 in McAllen, Texas. They said they had spent 6 days at a U.S. Border Patrol detention center before being released. Federal agencies have been overwhelmed by tens of thousands of immigrant families and unaccompanied minors from Central America crossing illegally into the United States. Many are being processed and released within days, with a requirement to enter immigration court proceedings at a later date. Texas' Rio Grande Valley has become the epicenter of the latest immigrant crisis, as more Central Americans have crossed illegally from Mexico into that sector than any other stretch of America's 1,933 mile border with Mexico.

Many of the recent migrant children from Central America are now in Southern California awaiting their fate in immigration court. To deal with this crisis, the Justice Department says it will now fast-track cases.

Many of the recent migrant children from Central America are now in Southern California awaiting their fate in immigration court. To deal with this crisis, the Justice Department says it will now fast-track cases.

So instead of these children waiting months to have a hearing, they might get processed in just three weeks. Here with more is Greg Chen, advocacy director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.