Immigration Update: Underlying Challenges At The Southern Border

Last week, Proskauer hosted a panel discussion focusing on the recent influx of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border and the urgent need for pro bono legal services. According to The New York Times, this past fiscal year nearly 2.5 million migrants crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, which is two and a half times greater than the number from four years ago. The large number of recent arrivals has overwhelmed an already strained system, as demonstrated by the current backlog of three million immigration cases — which has doubled since 2021 — pending before just 800 judges.

The panel was comprised of three immigration lawyers from Sanctuary For Families: Pooja Asnani, director of the Immigration Intervention Project; Maura Heron, supervising staff attorney for the Gender-Based Asylum Initiative; and staff attorney Alexi Jenkins. We were also privileged to have Alicia Berenyi, senior counsel in the Office of the Chief Counsel to the Mayor of New York City.