Immigration judges

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

"Immigration court backlogged for more than a year in Utah" (Tribune, Nov. 18):

Last summer, one of Utah's two immigration judges left to become a federal magistrate. Yet, due to a "hiring freeze" in the federal Executive Office for Immigration Review, no replacement judge has been assigned.

Let's do the math. It costs taxpayers $72.25 a day to house inmates in the Utah County Jail who face immigration violation hearings. Currently, 137 are being held, meaning the government pays $9,898.25 per day.

Surely, we can afford to spend a fraction of that bill to hire another full-time immigration judge.

Curtis Greenwood

Orem