Many of the people detained in the immigration raids that took place in December are being detained near Atlanta, where they are awaiting hearings.

According to a Des Moines Register story a few days after the raids…

Most were believed to have either been deported to Mexico or to a federal detention facility outside Atlanta, Ga.

The Des Moines Register had this story last month about a man, whose fiancee had been detained.

Braun's fiancee, Dulce Hernandez Vazquez, 33, was among the 99 undocumented immigrants netted in the Dec. 12 raids at the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Marshalltown. She has spent the last few months in a rural Alabama jail awaiting an immigration hearing before a judge in Atlanta.

With 220 Judges that hear immigration cases, why are these people awaiting hearings in Atlanta?

A study done by the San Jose Mercury News shows…

whether a person is granted asylum depends less on the merits of the person’s case and more on the judge before whom they present their case. The paper examined 176,465 cases that came before the 219 Immigration Judges between 1995 and 1999.

Their research shows the strictest immigration judge during this time period was William A. Cassidy of Atlanta.

A more recent study done by the New York Times shows Atlanta ranks lowest for granting asylum.

A study of 140,000 asylum cases in the United States has found that refugees who seek asylum in Atlanta have the lowest chance of winning their cases.

According to the study, reported in the New York Times, refugees are granted asylum only 12 percent of the time. The national average is 40 percent.

A closer look at the immigration cases in Atlanta shows…

The nation’s 220 immigration judges deny roughly two asylum cases for every one they grant; [Atlanta immigration judge William] Cassidy, on the other hand, rejects more than 10 asylum applications for every approval. His two colleagues in Atlanta, Paul Johnston and Mackenzie Rast, are barely any kinder. Their approval rates are a few tenths of a percentage point higher than Cassidy’s.

The people detaineed in the immigration raids are awaiting hearings in front of the most strict immigration judges in the nation. Making an example out of few isn't the type of justice our country was founded on and it certainly won't solve the problems we have with immigration.

Cross posted at Century of the Common Iowan.