What effect will the recent influx of immigrants have on our court system?
With large numbers of undocumented children coming to the U.S.-Mexico border and a serious bottleneck tamping down Texas courts, we need to start talking about how to address legal issues associated with immigrants, especially undocumented, displaced minors.
In our highly divisive political climate, everyone has an opinion on how the immigration issue should be handled but there’s one thing most U.S. citizens agree on: We need to take a humanitarian approach to helping the children who often get stuck in the middle.
What’s holding us back from resolving this issue? Lack of communication due to the politicization of immigration in the U.S. The first step toward a resolution is a willingness on both sides—left and right—to get this conversation started, along with a cold, hard look at the facts.
A general lack of understanding exists regarding how legal issues are handled for undocumented citizens in this country. For example, one important fact most people don’t know is you don’t have to be a documented citizen to file a lawsuit in the state of Texas.
The financial burden on state and local municipalities is greatly underestimated
When you have displaced children coming to the U.S. without extended family, where do they go? Who takes care of them? How do we pay for that?
Most U.S. citizens don’t understand what a huge financial burden and strain these immigration issues place on state and local resources, especially in border cities—not to mention our country. These children need legal representation, food, education and a safe place to live, which means the state is burdened with considerable expenses for ad litem attorneys, caseworkers, CPS staff, living expenses, housing and more.
While some undocumented minors do have family members living in the U.S., what happens if that family member can't afford to take care of the child? Or if the child does get relocated to a third party relative but the relative doesn't have either the resources or the desire to care for the child—what happens then? That child gets placed into “the system.”
The COVID-driven bottleneck in Texas courts and shrinking resources should concern citizens in Texas and the U.S.
Further compounding the problem is the fact that Texas is facing a major bottleneck in the court system due to COVID-19. In addition, state agencies like the Texas Department of Family Protective Services and Child Protective Services have been stretched to maximum capacity due to limited funding and budget cuts. When you have large numbers of undocumented, displaced children in need of assistance, the situation becomes even more dire.
As the situation stands, Texas currently is laying out considerable resources and tax dollars, which is decimating the state’s budget. At the same time, neither Texas citizens nor immigrants can get an expeditious resolution to legal matters in the family courts, or the county, district and state courts, either.
We need to take an aggressive and proactive approach to resolving the bottleneck in the court system
Along with opening the lines of communication, we need to talk seriously about how to unclog the bottleneck in the court system. It’s becoming a pressure cooker that will explode if we don’t address how immigrants and undocumented persons are processed through the court system, which is laden with red tape. Most people have no idea how many people have their fingers in every single immigration case that passes through the court system—CPS workers, ad litem attorneys, caseworkers and so on.
In light of the current bottleneck in the Texas courts and influx of undocumented minors, the question needs to be posed: Should the state continue to allow undocumented citizens the right to file civil lawsuits in our Texas courts? The state doesn’t have the resources available, yet we can’t abandon the humanitarian legacy this great nation was built upon.
Options for streamlining the court system for immigrants should be discussed
Is there any way to alleviate the red tape and heavy burden on state and local resources these immigration cases require? What changes can be made at the local level to minimize the number of hoops the legal community has to jump through to get these cases resolved more quickly?
There is no way we will succeed in resolving the bottleneck and immigration issues without a plan. And that’s why we need to be vigilant about coming together—politicians and the legal community—to work toward a solution and do so without fear.
Through these conversations, our role is to understand first, plan second and fix third. By setting fear and disagreements aside—and by listening to each other—certainly, we can develop a plan to slowly but surely clear the bottlenecks in Texas courts and provide a humanitarian solution for the displaced minors who desperately need our help.
Justin Sisemore is the founder of The Sisemore Law Firm, a leading family law practice in Fort Worth, Texas.