New App Aims To Raise Accountability In Immigration Court

Published: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 - 6:02pm
Updated: Thursday, June 13, 2019 - 12:07pm
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A legal advocacy group has unveiled an app aimed at increasing accountability and transparency in the backlogged immigration court system.

“Immigration courts generally do not allow folks to bring electronic devices into the courtroom,” said Ariel Prado, program manager for Innovation Law Lab.

Court watchers instead fill out a paper guide during an immigration hearing, Prado said. The guides then get scanned and uploaded to the app, which can pick out information from the guide and ask for more details about what happened.

“What we really want is to develop a set of data that covers all of the immigration courts across the country,” he said.

The app is in the pilot stage, Prado said. A paper guide has only been developed for one kind of immigration court hearing. But more could be ready next month.  

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