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Court to hear immigration cases
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Published: October 12, 2008
CHARLOTTE - North Carolina and South Carolina will soon have a court dedicated to hearing illegal-immigration cases from the two states.
Starting Nov. 4, two judges will begin hearing cases in the Executive Office for Immigration Review Court.
Cases from the region had been sent to Atlanta, but that court has been overwhelmed.
In 2007, nearly 2,900 immigration cases from North Carolina were heard, and almost 500 from South Carolina, said Susan Eastwood, a spokeswoman for the office that runs the court.
"One of the reasons we put the court (in Charlotte) was because of the sustained case-load," she said.
Immigration judges determine whether people charged with violating federal immigration laws are deported.
Decisions can be challenged with the Board of Immigration Appeals.
Charlotte will be the 57th immigration court in the country. A similar court is set to open in Omaha, Neb., later this month.
U.S. Rep Sue Myrick has been pressing for the court for years. It was supposed to open in 2007 but was delayed.
"An immigration court will speed up illegal-alien deportations," said Myrick, R-9th. "It will also help legal immigrants playing by the rules because they will no longer have to travel to Atlanta to deal with immigration matters."
The court is more convenient to people in the Carolinas, but it's still a waste of tax money to go after people who "haven't done anything but are coming here to better themselves," said German De Castro, the chairman of Hispanic Democrats in Charlotte.
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