In addition to supporting Chicago, Burrow said Indianapolis was chosen to host the new courthouse, in part because of the legal needs of the city`s growing immigrant population. Marion County News: Marion County has over 26,000 limited English speakers. These groups help resolve legal issues Call IndyStar Court Reporter Johnny Magdaleno at 317-273-3188 or email him at jmagdaleno@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter@IndyStarJohnny Of the 70,000 pending cases overseen by Chicago`s immigration court, a small fraction — 1.4 percent — involve people accused of crimes. While it appears the federal immigration system is expanding its footprint in Indiana, Burrow said she sees no connection between the expansion of the Clay County jail and the new federal court. She said that despite what Sinders said, there is no formal agreement that ICE will send more inmates to Clay County once the county expands its jail. “(The Executive Office for Immigration Review) is constantly monitoring the caseload across the country to meet the needs of all businessmen ahead of the agency, and opening new immigration courts in high-volume areas is one way to meet the needs of our stakeholders,” spokeswoman Gail Montenegro said. Compared to a Midwestern neighbor that has had a federal immigration court since 2006, the Cleveland metro area is home to 125,600 immigrants. They represent 6.1% of the population. The Justice Department suggested this last week in a statement describing the opening of the new courthouse in Indianapolis. IndyStar has repeatedly attempted to contact prosecutor Eric Somheil for more information.
He never answered. “To be honest, the ICE people are interested in us growing and sending more people here,” Sinders told IndyStar after a meeting of Clay County commissioners in October. “It`s a no-brainer, because of what happened in Illinois.” Ryan Marques, current president of the Indiana chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said they`ve been asking for it “for a while.” Government data shows that pending civil immigration cases across the country rose from 327,000 in 2012 to 1.5 million in the first quarter of 2022. There are about 15,700 pending immigration cases related to crime, according to federal immigration data, administered by Syracuse University. With the first snow of 2022, an Indianapolis couple begins a new chapter in America “The two developments — the opening of the Indianapolis courthouse and Clay`s signing of the expansion — are not directly related, except to the extent that the continued/increased enforcement of ICE in Indiana continues to contribute to the broader backlog of court cases nationwide,” he added. she said. Related: Indianapolis to Get New Federal Immigration Court Amid National Case Backlog Most Mahern clients want to live in the United States because they are tough in their home country or because their family members are citizens or residents here. Some of them paid hundreds of dollars for trips to and from Chicago. Data from the American Immigration Council, a nonprofit organization, indicates that the Indianapolis metropolitan area is home to 146,000 immigrants, or 7 percent of the total population. Clay County Auditor Jennifer Flater told IndyStar that the county has “signed documents to take the next step,” but she said nothing is set in stone. It was unable to provide any further information. Distance represented a logistical hurdle for lawyers and a financial barrier for people living in Indiana with immigration issues who had to take time off work and pay to travel to Illinois.
It`s also unclear how many of the nearly 70,000 pending cases in Chicago could be moved here. Clay County Commissioner Paul Sinders had previously said their interest in expanding the prison peaked last year when Illinois passed legislation ending contracts between the state`s county jails and ICE. “We can`t just use the fact that Clay County is expanding its jail as evidence that the number of immigration detainees in Indiana will increase,” Burrow said. “I think that would be inappropriate.” Hannah Cartwright, an Indianapolis attorney who runs Mariposa Legal and has opposed the expansion of the Clay County jail, also said she believes there is no connection. “The Chicago Immigration Court has been and continues to be extremely overwhelmed with cases, meaning many hearings have not been scheduled for several years,” Marques told IndyStar. Emma Mahern, a lawyer at Muñoz Legal, agrees. They were “driving three hours to have a five-minute hearing,” she said. The news came just weeks after commissioners of Clay County, about 12 miles east of Terre Haute, signed an initial agreement to begin expanding the county jail. The prison holds people accused of committing local crimes, but it also operates as the only immigration and customs detention center in Indiana.
`It`s like we`re in a cage`: Indiana man detained by ICE wants to be reunited with his family “Getting to and from Chicago can be a significant challenge,” said Burrow, director of local law firm Lewis Kappes, which represents people in humanitarian, family and deportation cases. “I think I`m very excited about accessibility for customers because it will be much easier. The new federal court, located in the Minton-Capehart Federal Building at 575 North Pennsylvania St., will be the first in Indiana. It will have a total of 40 employees, although it is not yet known how many of them will be judges. Immigration experts say last week`s revelation that Indianapolis will have its first federal immigration court in 2023 was long overdue.