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By Suzanne Gamboa
The case of an 11-year-old girl sentenced to deportation alone draws attention to overburdened immigration courts and the consequences of the slightest mistake, while the courts try to follow the political priorities of the administration and manage more and more cases.
A federal immigration judge in Houston signed on March 12 an eviction order from Laura Maradiaga-Alvarado, originally from El Salvador. The case has gradually attracted more and more advertising.
In response to a request from the lawyer – and the day after a press conference in Houston gathering representatives of US officials Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas – the judge reopened Laura's case and ordered the holding a new hearing on May 20 in Houston. , according to the Executive Bureau of Immigration and Laura 's lawyer, Silvia Mintz.
"The fact that the case was reopened so quickly shows the court's willingness to rectify the material error committed." Mintz told NBC News Tuesday night.
The decision to deport her had provoked outrage and even sparked angry tweets from Houston police chief Art Acevedo.
"Yes, the Nazis have also enforced their laws, you do not separate children from their families, never!" He said. part of a series of tweets.
The measure of expulsion was attributed to an error made after a hearing scheduled for February for the girl. His mother and sister were delayed by the closure of the government until March 12.
Laura was with her mother and sister in court at the March 12 hearing, but the translator informed the family that Laura was not on the list of family members. The deportation order incorrectly stated that Laura was not present at the hearing on March 12 and that no valid reason had been given for her absence.
Laura's mother, Dora Alvarado, learned that her daughter had been sentenced to be deported because of another mistake. On March 12, she was to appear three days earlier – March 9. Laura's mother mistakenly thought that the court wanted her to appear on April 9 because March 9 had already passed. She waited at the yard all day and was never called. She returned the next day and it was then that she discovered that her daughter had been sentenced to be deported, Mintz said.
An older daughter went to a high school counselor with the document to explain it to her, and the counselor put the family in touch with the FIEL Houston Immigration Defense Group.
"These mistakes should not happen – imagine if she did not show up and did not realize it," Mintz said. "I worry about all the other people who have suffered some sort of error from the court and do not know how to seek help."
The exact cause of the error was not located. But Mintz said she thought the mistake was the product of an overworked staff and an overload of records that are now typical of immigration courts.
"This case fell into the cracks somewhere after the government shut down," Mintz told NBC News on Tuesday.
The family is seeking asylum after the murder of Laura's father in El Salvador. Another family member was also killed and another died crossing the border at Piedras Negras. The lawyer did not have clear details about the deaths available.
Immigration courts have been burdened for years, but the 34-day government closure that began December 21, 2018 – the longest in history – forced the rescheduling of tens of thousands of cases d & # 39; immigration.
"It's understandable, because thousands of cases had to be postponed. Errors would of course occur, "said Mintz. "But it shows how much of a mistake, whether ill-intentioned or not, can be devastating to a family and result in separation."
Cesar Espinosa, a spokeswoman for FIEL Houston, who helped Laura and her family find legal help, said that since the case had attracted media attention, lawyers were contacting the group for help. tell him about the judicial errors that affected their clients.
Amber Gracia, senior attorney at Naimeh Salem & Associates in Houston, said she has seen a slight rise in miscarriages of justice since the start of the Trump administration.
She goes to court three times a week and at least one day, a case resulting from an error or error occurs in court. She was in court Tuesday, the same day she had spoken to NBC News during a phone interview. Someone was in the hearing room for a scheduled hearing but was not on the register.
Exacerbated overload system shutdown
Gracia said she was receiving notices of appearance in the immigration court for other lawyers or for people without a lawyer. Last year, a court sent him a notice denying an immigrant's asylum application, which only had 30 days to respond. By the time she had received the notification, at least three days had elapsed. The person was lucky and was able to find her by the court, said Gracia.
In addition to the mistakes made, the reprogramming of the hearings during the closure ended lives. Gracia said that a client was about to get her last hearing for her wedding-based green card and that she was hoping to be able to see her family after 10 years apart. But because of the closure, his hearing was postponed to three years.
"We can ask the court to move forward, but it is up to the court to decide it and now it is overwhelmed by an overworked record, as it is," Gracia said.
Long before the closure, the American Bar Association had called for court reform because of its backlog and the lack of resources.
In a report released in March, the bar said that since its review of the court system in 2010, the situation has deteriorated "significantly".
The same problems that the Bar had identified in his report almost 10 years ago – insufficient staffing, training and recruitment; increasing arrears; Inconsistent decisions in judges' decisions, particularly in asylum cases, and the adoption of videoconferencing technology preventing fair trials – continue to harm the courts, the bar said.
The situation is exacerbated by the years of Congress inaction on immigration reform as immigration control measures increased. Above all, there are the policies of this administration and the change of priorities of the courts.
According to the Syracuse University Transactional Records Access Information Exchange Center, some 855,000 cases were pending as of February 28th of the Immigration Court, which collects and publishes data on the court system. More than 300,000 were waiting at the end of January 2017, when President Donald Trump took office.
Congress has increased funding to add more judges but has failed to provide staff to many of them, said Ashley Tabaddor, president of the National Association of Judges at the University of New York. 39, immigration, a group of volunteers.
Many judges do not have a court and spend from one courtroom to another or work in arbitration centers where they hold teleconference hearings. These systems disrupt the continuity of the files. Many judges lack legal clerks, translators and support staff. Courts have 5,000 cases in arrears and hearings are scheduled one year in advance, requiring them to redraft as the administration changes the cases to be dealt with first, does it? declared.
"They do not see us as either a court or as judges, they see us as a kind of factory or widget, they still think that they can continue to trade the widget for others." parties, "she said.
Jackson Lee, who plans to reintroduce legislation aimed at expanding and improving immigration court staff, said Laura's case should wake up courts, their operational resources and influence. administration policy on the courts.
She asked if the judges get the right information on the cases.
"Whether you sign the order or not, do you know that it's an 11-year-old boy?" Jackson Lee asked.
"We do not know if there are other cases where children have been deported (alone) and have never been revealed," she told NBC News. "You have to wonder what happens in these courts?"
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