CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago’s immigration court is one of the nation’s busiest with long wait times and increasing caseload.
That’s according to a Chicago Sun-Times report which says the average wait is 966 days in Chicago, compared with the national average of 678 days.
In the past decade, the number of pending immigration cases nationwide has tripled while it’s increased nearly fivefold in Chicago.
President Donald Trump has vowed to deport millions, saying he intends to focus on immigrants living in the country without legal permission who have criminal records.
However, the Sun-Times reports most immigration court cases don’t involve violent crime. Only about 12 percent of deportation cases in Chicago and nationwide from 2010 to 2016 involved criminal charges.
The newspaper cites a Syracuse University research center that tracks immigration data.