Why are immigration cases in N.J. being heard by judges in Puerto Rico?

"ELIZABETH--Some 50 percent of Puerto Rico these days remains without power.

But the hurricane-ravaged island still has enough juice to run a live video stream between an immigration court in Guaynabo, and the Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey--where many hoping to avoid deportation are now arguing their cases before a judge sitting 1,604 miles away.

A backlog in U.S. immigration courts across the country has federal officials increasingly handling cases through video hookups, where the only place a judge and a detainee may meet is on a television screen. And earlier this month, judges at the San Juan Immigration Court in Guaynabo were assigned to begin conducting hearings via video teleconferencing, or VTC, involving cases of those pleading their cases in Elizabeth, according to the Justice Department.

"Using VTC is part of an overall strategy by the Executive Office for Immigration Review to increase adjudicatory capacity in order to try and cut the backlog in half by 2020," said an EOIR official, who would not say why judges in Puerto Rico were assigned to take up the backlog in New Jersey in the wake of the hurricane..."

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