Florida Immigration Law

Recent independent reports by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) and the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) show that significant disparities continue to exist in U.S. asylum adjudications. Incredibly, asylum results vary significantly depending on the city in which the claim is adjudicated, the immigration judge presiding over the case, and other factors that should have nothing to do with the merit of an asylum claim. A TRAC report on asylum adjudications from 2002-07 reflects that the average rate of asylum denials in New York was 38.3%, while the rate in Miami was 78.5%. The national average was 58.8%. Denial rates also varied wildly from one judge to another. In Miami, the denial rates range from a low of 21.3% for Judge Sandra Coleman, to a high of 97.1% for Judge Mahlon Hanson. The TRAC reports states: "The wide range of disparities in how asylum matters are decided — regardless of the perspective from which they are examined – points strongly to a dysfunctional system where the law is not the law." Powerful words that describe what we know from our own experience to be the sad and painful truth. Despite ongoing reports of this nature, we have not seen any changes in the asylum adjudication system in recent years. When will this injustice end?



Read on for links to the GAO and TRAC reports.