New Jersey Among the Highest Immigration Backlogs in Nation

By now, you've seen the stories about the border crisis in Texas and Arizona.  You've also watched as the situation has started to spread across the country, causing serious problems in places like New York, Chicago, and California.

What you may not realize, is that New Jersey has slowly and gradually climbed up a list that we don't want to be on.

The number of immigration court cases across the country has grown by epic proportions.  There are currently over three million cases waiting to be heard in courtrooms across our nation.

The Largest Backlog of Immigration Court Cases

Florida and Texas lead the country with a combined backlog of close to 900,000 cases waiting to be heard.  That's followed by California, New York and Illinois.

The state with the seventh most immigration court cases waiting to be heard is New Jersey, with 176,104.

The purpose of these hearings is to decide whether an illegal immigrant can stay in the country.  The question at many of these trials is whether or not someone meets the requirements to claim asylum.

What is Asylum

Broken down to the basics, asylum is granted to people who are in fear of being persecuted in their home country for things like political opposition, religion, and others.  If their fear is deemed valid, they are granted asylum and can remain in the country.

As the issue at hand is federal and not state, these immigration cases fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice.

Incredibly, there are only 70 courts across the nation that handle these types of cases.

These States Have the Largest Immigration Court Backlogs | Best States | U.S. News (usnews.com)