More than 42,000 immigration cases have been canceled nationwide because of the partial government shutdown — and in some cases, it has reportedly buying immigrants more time.
In a sobering study by Syracuse University, researchers found more than 9,424 immigration status hearings have been canceled in California — the most in the nation. New York came in second with 5,320 cancellations, and Texas followed close behind, with 5,141.
Across the country, 42,726 cases have been scrapped because of the shutdown — and that number will balloon to 108,112 if the border funding impasse continues to Feb. 1 — and 185,071 if it lasts until March 1, the researchers say.
"What that means is that folks who have been waiting maybe a couple of years for their court hearing, whether it be asylum or deportation, they aren't having their court date and they don't know when their next court date will be," Erendira Rendon, vice president of immigration and advocacy at the Resurrection Project, told a CBS affiliate in Chicago.
And though the cancellations create confusion and uncertainty for some, for others — including those facing deportation — it is going to buy time and a few more years more in the country, Rendon said.
The news affiliate pointed to the case of a mother of three who fled an abusive husband in Mexico and now lives in Illinois — and whose hearing was canceled.
"It's helping her buy time, but she also has to pay for the lawyer," the unnamed woman's interpreter told the news outlet. "Those fees don't stop, so its affecting her economically and financially. She just wants to get this resolved and try to get an answer from the government."