Salt Lake immigration court has hands full as cases pile up

The question — if you were sent back to Mexico, what would happen to your wife? — drew a long pause from Carlos Navarro, whose status in the United States hangs in the balance.

The 66-year-old Santaquin man had just explained to the Salt Lake Immigration Court that surgeons removed a cancerous tumor from the stomach of his wife, Placida, and would soon operate on her liver. He is her primary caretaker, driving her to doctor's appointments and making sure she gets her medication.

Navarro broke the silence choked with emotion.

"Es posible que se muera," he said through an interpreter while wiping away a tear.

"She could die."

His wife's illness actually works in Navarro's favor as Judge William L. Nixon contemplates deporting him. Nixon has already determined that due to his criminal record, Navarro is "removable" from the United States. At issue is whether he should grant him relief.

But it won't be resolved until next May. After more than three hours of questions, Nixon continued a mid-September hearing to the court's next available open date — eight months down the road.

Though the Department of Justice opened an immigration court in Salt Lake City just four months ago, it already has a backlog of more than 800 cases. It sometimes has more than 30 hearings on its daily calendar.

Nixon has his hands full, as does Matthew Hall, the attorney representing the Department of Homeland Security on Utah immigration matters. Prior to June, Salt Lake cases were handled in Denver by video conference.

The new court has some bugs to work out. It occupies temporary space at the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in Murray. Though its proceedings are public, the courtroom is not very accessible. The court docket is not posted in a public place nor is it available online.

Elaine Komis, spokeswoman for the Executive Office for Immigration Review in Virginia, said there's not much she can do because the Justice Department rents the room from Homeland Security. The court intends to move to a building near the Salt Lake Airport early next year.

Immigration courts conduct formal administrative hearings, basically trials, to determine whether foreign-born individuals charged with breaking immigration laws should be deported. They also consider petitions for asylum.