Washington, Mar 30 -

Western North Carolina Representative Charles Taylor said today that the U.S. Department of Justice should reverse its recent decision to deny North Carolina an immigration court, designated to adjudicate matters relating to both legal and illegal immigration. He was joined by U.S. House colleagues Rep. Sue Myrick (NC-9), Rep. Walter Jones (NC-3), Rep. Virginia Foxx (NC-5) and Rep. Patrick McHenry (NC-10) at a press conference this afternoon in Washington D.C., calling on the Department of Justice to establish a North Carolina immigration court.

North Carolina currently has the 8th largest illegal alien population in the country, yet many states with lower illegal alien populations have an immigration court. Currently, the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia are served by only one immigration court, located in Atlanta, Georgia. All four states are experiencing rapid growth in the population of legal and illegal immigrants, particularly North Carolina.

“An immigration court is a vital part of a three-pronged approach to immigration reform: securing our borders, expediting the citizenship and visa process, and dealing with the millions of illegals already present in our nation. Since the Justice Department is unwilling to meet the needs of North Carolina in this matter, I will work with my colleagues to secure funding for the immigration court through the Appropriations process,” said Rep. Taylor. “I serve on the Appropriations Committee for this very reason – to bring much-needed funding home to Western North Carolina, particularly when the federal bureaucracy fails to recognize their obvious merit.”

Rep. Taylor is one of only ten Subcommittee Chairmen, or cardinals, of the House Appropriations Committee.

North Carolina experienced a 58.1% increase in its foreign-born population just between the years of 2000 and 2005. This was one of the largest percentage increases in the country for that time period. This trend of growth in foreign-born population is estimated to continue.

For more information please visit the following links:

http://www.myrick.house.gov/NCImmigrationCourtFactSheet.shtml

http://www.myrick.house.gov/immigrationcourtstats.shtml