Today Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28) made the following statement upon word that the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) will be detailing an Immigration Judge to Laredo, Texas.

“I have been working to get Immigration Judge Teams into border communities, like Laredo, for years and I applaud EOIR for sending a temporary judge to Laredo,” said Congressman Cuellar. “I will be working with EOIR and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make that position in Laredo permanent and potentially add more. Currently, due in part to the lack of available judges, immigrants at the border are either detained for long periods of time or released into the United States with a promise to return at a later court date. Neither of those is good options, for the immigrants or the enforcement of our laws. More judges will help EOIR and ICE do their jobs, treat immigrants more fairly, and keep our country safer. ”

On March 20th EOIR will be detailing Immigration Judges to five new locations, including Laredo. EOIR currently has an immigration backlog of over half a million cases. To help cut down on this caseload Congressman Cuellar was successful in adding funding for 55 new immigration judge teams in the Fiscal Year 2016 Omnibus Appropriations Act Congress passed in December of 2015. Congressman Cuellar also worked to add 25 immigration judges in the fiscal year 2017; however, the federal budget is currently operating under a Continuing Resolution of FY16 funding levels.