Border Patrol Chief Agent explains their role in the migrant immigration process

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - From the second a migrant hands themselves over to Border Patrol between the Ports of Entry, the process to become a legal citizen is very long, taking years.

"So for us, we always see it as a 24-hour clock. We're the first 10 minutes, 20 minutes of that immigration process," said Sean McGoffin, the Yuma Chief Patrol Agent.

He added that Border Patrol's role is about a 72-hour process before migrants get sent to their next destination, whether it is back to their country of origin or the next agency.

"If we can return them to their country of origin we will do so, if its either Mexico we can do that ourselves or we have to rely on other agencies to do that for other countries Immigration Customs and Enforcement Removal Operations, and we also work with the CIS which is the Citizen Immigration Services and we also have to work with as were going through the process, with the immigration judges who also have to make those decisions," said McGoffin.

According to Immigration Attorney Elizabeth Ricci, there is about a 10 year backlog for those waiting to be in front of the judge to get their asylum case heard.

"I think it's 1.3 million asylum cases in the immigration court right now. We only have 700 judges, and they have a caseload of about 4,500 cases per judge. So that makes it slower," stated Ricci.