US deals with immigration attorney shortage as cases continue to rise, study shows

As the country continues to process the hundreds of thousands of migrants trying to seek legality in the United States, new data points to another issue: a shortage of immigration attorneys.

Thousands of migrants from all over the world cross into the United States monthly in hopes of starting a new life. Many of them who don't get immediately turned away and deported will be processed through the backlogged immigration court system.

"You need real solutions here, and the backlog has grown for decades, so this has been a long-standing problem," said co-director of the Syracuse University Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Susan Long.

Long said their latest research shows nearly 1.5 million immigration cases were filed last year across the United States. By the end of December, the immigration case backlog had grown to more than 3 million cases, according to her.

"Well that means there's three times as many immigrants needing attorneys there, so there's only so much supply," Long said.

According to TRAC, Texas is ranked sixth in the country for courts with the lowest representation rates. The TRAC research reveals Texas has 458,000 backlogged immigration cases and only 85,000 of which have legal representation from an immigration attorney.

Houston immigration attorney Mana Yegani said she's not surprised to hear there's a shortage of attorneys.

"Lawyers don't want to do this because we, the system, is broken. It's impossible to help people. It's impossible to get legal status for people," Yegani said.

Yegani has been doing immigration law for more than a decade and says many of her clients' cases take six to 10 years before they receive a decision on whether they'll be granted legality. She said 80% of cases are usually denied by immigration judges across the country.

"It's disheartening. Your heart breaks, and it doesn't mend. It's really difficult because we're dealing with people on the human level," Yegani said.

Immigration attorneys are experiencing burnout. She said some attorneys in other states are even shutting their offices suddenly.

"Send out mass mail to people and say, 'Please pick up your file in such and such location and their office is closed,'" Yegani said.

She says many attorneys like her are frustrated and they want a bipartisan agreement and more up-to-date immigration law to be implemented in order to address the issues.

"The law has me handcuffed," Yegani said.

She believes if problems are addressed it would ultimately increase the number of attorneys.

SEE RELATED STORY: What is the real situation at the Texas-Mexico border? ABC13 went there for answers

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