Immigration Reform 2013: Congress Sees Signs of Trouble That Sequester Would Cause On Passing Immigration Bill

As Congress deals with the looming sequester, there are already some red flags popping up in terms of problems that Congress could be dealing with regarding passing a bill that would reform the nation's immigration laws.

According to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, if automatic spending cuts--which could happen if Congress and President Obama don't agree on a budget deal before the March 1 deadline--kick in by Friday, the Department of Homeland Security would be forced to cut the number of border patrol agents and officers who guard the borders of the country.

That could pose a major problem regarding the recent push for immigration overhaul.

In the last month, both President Obama and the "Gang of Eight," which is a bipartisan panel of Democratic and Republican U.S. Senators who are working to create a compromise bill on immigration reform, have come out with--or in President Obama's case, leaked--legislation proposals on immigration that includes having a pathway to citizenship for many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.

However, the bipartisan panel's legislation calls for having the border secured first as part of the deal.

With fewer agents to patrol the borders, Napolitano has implied that her department's ability to effectively enforce immigration laws will be tested.

Earlier in February, as Politico notes, Napolitano told the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee that should sequestration cuts occur, Homeland Security could be forced to cut as many as 5,000 border agents form its payroll. In addition to that, U.S. customs port officers would have to take furloughs of 12 to 14 days, which would result in longer wait times and less security between the ports of entry for the country.

Meanwhile, on the legal immigration front, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder warned that sequestration would slice more than over $15 million from the Executive Office for Immigration Review's current budget.

"EOIR would be forced to cease all hiring of key critical positions for EOIR's immigration courts, including Immigration Judges, likely increasing pending caseloads to well over 350,000 (an increase of 6 percent over September 2012 levels," Holder wrote to the Senate committee earlier this month. 

And that could increase the already-lengthy amount of time that immigrants have to wait to have a judge rule on their immigration cases.

As the Washington Post reports, there are currently 323,725 immigration cases backlogged in the courts as of January of this year. Immigrants must typically wait between 55 days and 1.5 years until their cases are heard legally. In California, the average wait time on an immigration case was 660 days.

The immigration review office would also need to cut contracts for interpreters, legal support, and I.T. staff.