The United States is on the verge of reversing an immigration court backlog that has been building for years, Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified Tuesday.
Immigration hawks long have pointed to the backlog, now about 600,000 cases, as a factor in undermining enforcement. Sessions told the House Judiciary Committee that the backlog has barely grown during the past two to three months as a result of 50 additional immigration judges who have started working since President Donald Trump took office.
Sessions said the Department of Justice has shortened the time for hiring new judges and hopes to bring an additional 360 to 370 on board.
“I’m told by the additional work we’re doing, by January, we will not be adding to the backlog but hopefully reducing it,” he testified. “That would be a real change in the trends that we were heading on.”
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