Abstract
Immigration courts in the United Sates are struggling to resolve 610,524 removal
proceedings cases with approximately 330 judges located in 58 immigration courts
nationwide. Due to the limited number of judges, case backlogs have increased steadily,
with the wait time being 854 days in 2017 for the first hearing and much longer for case
resolution. The purpose of this case study was to explore the perceptions and attitudes of
immigration attorneys about delays in removal proceeding hearings in an immigration
court in the southwest. Kettl's transformation of governance theory served as the
theoretical foundation for this study, which explored immigration attorneys' perceptions
about the effects of delays on the welfare of immigrant clients, the effects of delays on
client-attorney relationships, and potential solutions to the delay crisis. Data were
collected through semistructured interviews with a snowball sample of 10 participants as
well as deportation hearing observations and court document reviews. Data were
analyzed using the open coding technique. Findings indicated that legal representation
was challenging for undocumented immigrants as the lack of proper documents often
dissuaded immigrants from seeking legal guidance and they experienced challenges in
navigating workplaces, schools, and society. Findings also indicated inadequacies in
immigration courts and the need for more funding and resources such as judges, staff
training, online application submission system, and judicial system restructuring. The
implications for positive social change are directed at immigration policymakers and
decision makers as a better understanding of the delay crisis may help them to focus
attention and resources in helping to reduce the backlog and improve the judicial process.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:waldenu.edu/oai:scholarworks.waldenu.edu:dissertations-6350 |
| Date | 01 January 2018 |
| Creators | Diawara, Awa C. |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks |
| Source Sets | Walden University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies |
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