“Why is it taking so long?” San Antonio immigration judge Anibal Martinez asked immigration lawyer Linda Brandmiller in a recent hearing when told of the backlog, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

“I have no idea,” Brandmiller said. “The problem is with both detained and nondetained [immigrant cases].”

According to the paper, immigration lawyers say that wait times have tripled in recent months — an increase that is also likely due in part to a heavy influx of illegal immigrants from Central America.

According to Brandmiller, until recently biometrics results were provided after a little over a month. Her clients’ background checks are still sometimes conducted in that time frame, but some wait more than six months, she told the San Antonio Express-News.

“When we are reporting to the judge and all he is waiting on is a few details like this, it makes it difficult,” Brandmiller said.

Such delays drag down the process of determining status for immigrants.

“It’s one more time we have to set another court hearing,” Dana Marks, an immigration judge and president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, told the Express-News. “It’s inconvenient for the people involved and inconvenient for the court,” she said, adding that the backlog leads to more continuances, “which isn’t an ideal solution.”

In 2012, the Department of Homeland Security awarded USIS the five-year, $889 million contract to conduct the immigration checks. (RELATED: Company That Did Background Check On Snowden Got Hacked)

Besides its failure to catch Snowden and Alexis, USIS has been hammered amid allegations that it failed to complete 665,000 background checks in order to cut costs.

In a letter sent last month, U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings and U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn expressed concern that, despite its numerous failing, the Department of Homeland Security still awarded USIS a separate $190 million support services contract with U.S. Customs and Immigration Services.

On top of those errors, USIS suffered a cyber attack in which Department of Homeland Security personnel’s personal information was put at risk.

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• Immigration Issues
• Politics & Government
• background checks
• Edward Snowden