The acting director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review in the Justice Department, James McHenry, says that the Trump administration would have to double the number of immigration judges to make any difference to the amount of backlogged cases, which has reached a record high.
On Wednesday, McHenry told the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration and border security that estimates have been run and that the office has asked for more judges, with at least 700 needed to begin turning the situation around. The Executive Office for Immigration Review currently employs no more than 336 immigration judges across the US, with as many as 384 currently allowed. That figure would be increased to 449 by the next budget request, with a policy outlined by President Donald Trump providing a further 370, to reach around 700.
McHenry says that the number of immigration cases has reached a record high of 640,000. This is three times the number of the cases held by the court in the fiscal year 2009, and twice that of the 2012 fiscal year.
Since 1 January 2017, a total of 61 new judges were hired, with the pace of recruiting expected to increase in the next fiscal year. In a written statement, McHenry said the agency regards hiring as one of its top priorities but that, in the short term, things may get worse before they get better.