Safe Havens

            (E)  Winning On Petition for Review in the Circuit Court of Appeals.  The client may win safe haven by filing and winning a petition for review in the federal circuit court of appeals with territorial jurisdiction over the location in which the Immigration Judge conducted removal proceedings in the case.  To do so, the petition must often survive a DHS motion to dismiss the petition based on the jurisdictional limitations enacted into law in 1996.  It is becoming harder to do so as the volume of cases pending before the various circuit courts grows larger and larger.

            For example, the Ninth Circuit’s immigration-related case load has grown tremendously in the last five years.  In 2000, that court handled immigration 872 cases; in 2001, 896; in 2002, the total nearly quadrupled to 3578; in 2003, it grew to 3966; in 2004, it grew 50% to 5943, and in 2005, by mid-March, there were 6000 cases pending before the court.  This is a nearly 700% increase in the five years from 2000 through 2004, with another large rise indicated in 2006.  Immigration cases now account for 40% of the Ninth Circuit’s entire caseload.[3]

            While the Ninth Circuit is special in the sense that about half of all immigration-related decisions in the country are issued by the Ninth Circuit, it is believed that the immigration-related caseloads of other circuits are growing dramatically as well.

[3] Thanks to Kathy Brady for this information.