Financial Services And General Government Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

FINANCIAL SERVICES AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 27, 2007)

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Mr. CUELLAR. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

First of all, I want to thank Chairman JOSE SERRANO and Ranking Member RALPH REGULA for their leadership in bringing this appropriation bill forward.

My amendment is simple. Working with my colleague Mr. TED POE, it strives to alleviate the strain that we have on the Federal district courts along the U.S.-Mexico border. In recent years, the rising number of criminal immigration cases has created considerable strain to those Federal district courts. For those courts, the percentage of criminal cases have gone to upward of 70 percent of the criminal casework that they have. The average Federal judge in a border district court sees 306.5 criminal cases per year compared with the national average of 83 cases a year.

The subsequent backlog has impeded the ability of the district courts to process cases in a timely manner. This backlog will only be increased with the additional funding and emphasis put into the border enforcement by Congress.

The backlog has hindered the due process for U.S. citizens and immigrants. Many defendants have fallen through the cracks, as it can take up to a year to receive judicial action. It is important that our Nation's court system not be overextended by the lack of judges.

This bipartisan amendment is a companion to the legislation I introduced, H.R. 1909, the Federal Criminal Immigration Courts Act of 2007. That legislation utilizes the recommendations of the 2007 judicial conference to increase the number of Federal judgeships in those district courts most impacted by immigration cases.

The additional judges will help ease the burden on the system and will ensure these cases will be handled in a timely manner. With your help, we can move forward in making sure our judiciary keeps up with the increased demand that we have along the border.

I believe an agreement with the chairman that I will withdraw this amendment and work with the chairman to work with them to try to get this funded in the conference committee.

Mr. SERRANO. Would the gentleman yield?

Mr. CUELLAR. Yes.

Mr. SERRANO. I will continue to work with you on this issue. I know how important it is to you and to our country. You have that commitment from us.

Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Chairman, I don't see Mr. Poe here, but we did talk about withdrawing this amendment. We ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, the gentleman's amendment is withdrawn.

There was no objection.

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