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Minnesota's Backlog Of Immigration Court Cases Is Growing

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) – Recently released data from Syracuse University shows that pending immigration cases have increased 70 percent since last year in Minnesota's Bloomington federal immigration court.

The court handles cases from North Dakota and South Dakota in addition to Minnesota. Minnesota Public Radio reports that six immigration judges currently handle the cases for the three states.

Minnesota currently has 13,703 pending cases, according to the data. It concludes that the backlog of cases is at an all-time high. More than a million cases are pending nationally. New York, California, and Texas have some of the highest numbers.

North Dakota and South Dakota don't have any pending cases.

An immigration attorney attributes the rise in cases to stricter enforcement and not having enough judges to handle the caseload.

(© Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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