Trump Seeks Extra Immigration Judge For Bloomington
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Trump administration hopes to speed up deportations by sending extra immigration judges to 12 U.S. cities, including Bloomington.
Many of the judges are going to larger cities, such as New York City, Los Angeles and Miami, but also included are places like Omaha, Nebraska.
Bloomington was apparently included because the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office deals with cases from a number of other upper Midwest states, including the Dakotas.
President Donald Trump's supporters say this is a fulfillment of one of his key campaign promises.
Throughout his campaign, Trump talked about a Minnesota case, the murder of 90-year-old Carver County farmer Earl Olander in 2015 by two undocumented workers, as a reason to speed up deportations.
Two days before the election during a rally on Nov. 6 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Trump said, "Earl's body was found with his hands bound behind his back, duct tape on his mouth and blunt injuries around his head."
Olander's killers are serving lengthy jail terms and face eventual deportation.
According to the Minnesota chapter of the Immigration Lawyers Association, there are more than 5,300 cases pending in Minnesota's federal immigration courts. The extra judge assigned to the federal immigration courts will likely serve in a building near Fort Snelling.
Local immigration attorneys, such as Esteban Rivera, say deportations in Minnesota will now happen more quickly.
"It will mean the cases will go faster because more judges will be assigned," he said.
Under the Obama administration, speedier deportations were usually reserved for those convicted of serious crimes. Now immigration attorneys say those accused of even minor crimes could end up being deported before their criminal cases are resolved.
"Even when the criminal case is not completed, they will start a deportation case and they might get deported when they might be acquitted later," Rivera said.
The overwhelming majority of those facing proceedings in Minnesota's immigration courts are not in custody. Of the 5,300 cases estimated to be pending in Minnesota immigration courts, roughly 150 cases involved individuals who are in custody.