With every news cycle, the threat that faces illegal immigrants gets more and more real. Last month President Trump announced plans to increase the amount of ICE raids in New York City. He has since followed through with that plan. The result was more than 600 arrests in one week, nationwide. He also announced his intentions to triple the number of ICE agents. A new plan is in the works that is set to speed up New York deportations. The Justice Department is reshuffling the assignment of immigration judges. The intent of this plan is to cut down on time it takes to deport an illegal immigrant.

The new plan is unusual, to say the least. The Department of Homeland Security put in the request for the reshuffling of judges. Normally the Department of Justice handles the assignment of federal judges. 12 cities are going to see an increase in the number of judges hearing these cases. New York is on that list. New York deportations could undergo a massive overhaul in the coming months.

An Executive Order Speeds Up New York Deportations

In January President Trump wrote an executive order to target illegal immigrants with criminal cases. The intention was to speed up the removal process in these cases. However, the executive order doesn’t take into account that some of these cases have yet to be resolved. The President’s order paints all of these cases with a broad brush. The cornerstone of our justice system is that all criminals are innocent until proven guilty. The opponents of both the executive action and the reassignment of judges cite this as the biggest concern.

New York deportations of “criminal immigrants” are the cases that will see the greatest impact from these moves.

New York Deportations Backlog

There are currently 540,000 deportation cases on court dockets nationwide. Of those, more than 70,000 are in New York alone.  These numbers make New York deportations the largest backlog in the nation. More than 2,600 of these cases involve immigrants with criminal charges. These cases will be the first on the docket.

New York has 28 immigration judges. With some simple math skills, we can determine that each judge is responsible for almost 3,000 cases. That is a staggering number.

Pressure to Get Through the Backlog

President Trump ran a campaign based on curbing illegal immigrants. Because of this fact, judges are under an immense amount of pressure to get through the backlog. This is alarming because the future of entire families is being decided in mere minutes. New York deportations can happen in under 10 minutes. Think about that. It takes a judge less than 10 minutes to determine someone’s fate. Criminal cases can drag on for months, but the expectation is for a judge to decide New York deportation cases in minutes. This is one of the biggest reasons that you need an experienced immigration lawyer to handle your case.

What We Know So Far

The reshuffling of judges is not yet set in stone. There have only been preliminary discussions of what the plan entails. We are aware that there are 12 cities being targeted. New York, Los Angeles, San Fransico, Now Orleans, Phoenix, and Baltimore are the major cities on the list. However, reshuffling of judges will do little to solve the problem. The plan may simply be to buy time for the administration to figure out a long-term solution. In the end, the only real answer to the backlog of cases will be to hire judges at the same rate the President plans to hire ICE agents.

This is a significant shift in policy from the Obama administration. Before President Trump took office, the policy was only to speed up deportations of those who have serious convictions. This broader policy is meant for anyone from a murderer, to someone who only jaywalked.

What You Should Do

If you are an immigrant who currently is undocumented, the time to plan is now. Do not wait until an ICE agent knocks on your front door before making a plan. Speak with a New York City immigration attorney immediately. They will be able to guide you in the right direction and help you get on a path to legal status. These new stories are only happening more and more frequently, and the President shows no plans of slowing down. There are numerous defenses that you can start preparing in case of a possible deportation case, and you shouldn’t waste another second. Your future may depend on your planning.