Immigration administrative agency appeals are at the end of a lengthy legal process. A defendant whose case has been prosecuted by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, heard by immigration judges, and appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), may file an appeal with the federal courts.

In the 12-month period ending March 2003, filings of immigration administrative agency appeals soared 379 percent to 8,446 appeals.

The beginning of that increase in immigration appeals cases filed in the courts of appeals can be tracked to a specific event. On February 6, 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft pledged at a news conference that the Department of Justice would enforce immigration laws and clear the backlog of 56,000 cases at the BIA by April 2003.

Almost immediately, BIA doubled production, sending a deluge of petitions for review into the U.S. courts of appeals by petitioners whose deportations are generally stayed pending the completion of federal court action. Total administrative agency appeals of BIA decisions filed monthly in the 12 regional courts of appeals increased 48 percent in March 2002 and 73 percent in April 2002.

By February 2003, a year later, monthly filings of these appeals had grown 357 percent over the number reported in February 2002. Although all circuits showed increases, the Ninth and Second Circuits experienced the largest portion of these appeals.

In the Ninth Circuit, monthly filings surged 385 percent between February 2002 and February 2003; the Second Circuit experienced a 781 percent increase during the same period.

A backlog of cases developed in the courts when delivery of certified records, required to review cases in the courts of appeals, was significantly delayed. As a result, from February 2002 to 2003, appeals related to BIA decisions that were closed monthly only increased 76 percent, while appeals filed monthly during that time increased 357 percent.

In collaboration, staff from the courts, the Administrative Office and DOJ have implemented measures to expedite certified record production and facilitate early review of jurisdictional issues by the courts. Increased use of e-mail for routine correspondence, court access to on-line BIA decisions and expedited priority record production have all been implemented. DOJ also has recently added contract staff to produce the records and has supplemented the legal staff in the Office of Immigration Litigation. The federal courts experiencing the increased caseload face an additional problem; current funding does not allow for additional staffing to meet the new workload.