As the number of immigration-related cases filed in federal court last year hit the highest level in the past 30 years, some lawyers pointed to the chronic backlog of immigration documents as a sign that the current system’s limitations were being exposed.<\/p>\n
According to federal court statistics, as of the end of last year, more than 70 percent of federal court cases were immigration and refugee cases.<\/p>\n
Immigration-related cases jumped from 6,424 in 2020 to 13,487 in 2022, according to the Office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Paul Crampton.<\/p>\n
Currently, the Department of Immigration backlogs over 1 million immigration applications.<\/p>\n
Immigration lawyers say the surge in cases filed in federal courts is a result of the Department of Immigration’s delays and denials in the immigration process.<\/p>\n
According to Barbara Jackman, an immigration lawyer in Toronto, people are getting tired of the lengthy processing times for immigration applications of all types, including permanent residency.<\/p>\n
“I think it’s partly due to the coronavirus,” he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs many cases are being handled at once, rejection cases are increasing, and more lawsuits are being filed in response,\u201d Jackman said.<\/p>\n
Ottawa immigration attorney Jacqueline Bonistel suspects an increase in Mandamus applications, asking the Department of Immigration to expedite processing of immigration applications, is driving the surge in immigration-related cases in the courts.<\/p>\n
‘Mandamus’ is a court ordering a government agency to carry out a specific task as an obligation under the law and is called a ‘duty execution order’ in Korean. The Mandamus application is submitted to the Department of Immigration to request processing results when the applicant is well past the reasonably expected processing timeline.<\/p>\n
Bonisteel said these mandamus applications are an increasingly common last resort.<\/p>\n
Currently, there are more than 2 million immigration applications (including backlogs) pending with the Federal Immigration Department.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Department of Immigration said it processed more than 5.2 million permanent and temporary resident and citizenship applications in 2022 alone, nearly doubling the previous year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"