The Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice are expecting the expansion of the new “Secure Communities” initiative to create an avalanche of new deportation cases in an effort “to remove all criminal aliens held in the United States prisons and jails.” The Justice Department justifies the move in the proposed budget to boost funding for immigration courts:
Implementation of DHS Secure Communities Initiative: $14.0 million and 172 positions (44 attorneys) to implement a Department of Homeland Security initiative, Secure Communities, which will significantly increase EOIR’s [Executive Office for Immigration Review] workload. This funding will enable EOIR to staff 28 additional Immigration Judge Teams. Secure Communities represents a new comprehensive approach to remove all criminal aliens held in the United States prisons and jails. The DHS enforcement activity, particularly as it relates to the Secure Communities Initiative, will have significant ramifications for EOIR, adding tens of thousands of additional cases and appeals to an already burgeoning workload. Immigration and Customs Enforcement received $200 million in FY 2008 to begin Secure Communities. The funding requested for EOIR will ensure that EOIR has sufficient resources to adjudicate cases in a timely manner. The requested program increase will also establish a baseline for this initiative. [Emphasis added.]
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