The FEC’s Stifled Enforcement and the Immigration Courts’ Backlog

by David Epstein
ProPublica, July 1, 2009, 8:30 a.m.

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Here are our editors’ picks from today’s roundup of investigative stories around the Web. Was there a story we missed? Please keep sending us your picks or include them in the comments section below.

TPMMuckraker reports that the Federal Election Commission has increasingly declined to enforce or investigate violations of election law because its three Republican commissioners have consistently voted against doing so—leaving the commission in 3-3 deadlocks. According to the article, the lack of enforcement actions could lead to an increase in the influence of money in political campaigns.

Also, the backlog of cases at understaffed immigration courts has ballooned to 200,000 while the number of border patrol agents and government attorneys who argue for the deportation of illegal immigrants has risen, according to a joint article by Truthdig and the Center for Investigative Reporting. “As a result,” the article says, “cases often take months if not years to complete.” (A spokeswoman for the agency that oversees U.S. immigration courts says its low rate of appeal “speaks well for the performance of our agency.”)