Shutdown delays 37,000 immigration hearings

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

The federal government shutdown last year delayed more than 37,000 immigration hearings by months or years for immigrants already waiting in lengthy lines to plead for asylum or green cards.

Though the country’s immigration courts now are running as usual, immigrants who had hoped to have their cases resolved in October so they could travel abroad to see family or get a job have instead had their lives put on hold. Many already had waited years to get a hearing date in the notoriously backlogged courts, which determine whether immigrants should be deported or allowed to stay in the country.

Some hearings have been pushed into later this year, and thousands more have been shelved until 2015 or later, according to emails obtained by The Associated Press.

The delays triggered by last year’s shutdown that closed national parks and furloughed government workers has further strained an immigration court system already beset with ballooning caseloads, years-long waits and a shortage of judges.