Backlog Means Immigration Cases Wont Be Heard Until 2019

Back in November of 2012, the Houston Chronicle reported a growing backlog of cases in Houston's immigration court. At that time, the backlog grew from more than 4,000 to more than 12,000 in a three-year period, and cases were being scheduled for late 2014.

Now a recent update on that number puts the tally at 31,300 with cases looking to be heard around November 2019.

One of the issues has been that there are only four judges, and one of them hasn't heard a case for months. There hasn't been an explanation as to why this has happened, but it leaves a large number of people in limbo. How could something like this happen?

For answers, we turn to Jeronimo Cortina, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at University of Houston.