New system helps ease long lines at Orlando immigration office

ORLANDO, Fla. — The long line that snaked outside the Orlando U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office is now down to a few dozen people, a completely different sight than last week.

There are no more tents outside nor a huge line of people.

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The progress is partially thanks to Rep. Darren Sotol, who wrote a letter to ICE last Friday asking for something to be done to help those sleeping outside and waiting days for their appointments.

Now there’s a new system of who gets seen first before they reach capacity.

READ: Days-long wait for immigration appointments a consequence of a broken system

“Prioritizing vulnerable immigrants, families, seniors, folks with disabilities, women. In addition, they’ve been more engaging with the lines to see who needs to be there that day, who otherwise can come back later,” Soto said.

Before this, hundreds of people were showing up on a daily basis.

READ: Sanford church brings food, drinks to people waiting outside Orlando immigration office

ICE said the pandemic caused appointments to get pushed back, slowing processing times and limiting days of availability. Soto said now that cases are lower, it all came to a head.

“The past two years we haven’t had a lot of legal immigration,” Soto said. “That also led to some of the worker shortages. As things are starting to open up, we’re starting to see more movement in general and more folks being processed, so there’s a huge backlog.”

READ: People camp out overnight outside Orlando immigration office due to long lines

While things are significantly better right now, Soto believes the number of migrants coming here will remain high for a while because more Venezuelans and Haitians are seeking asylum.

Photos: People camp out outside Orlando immigration office due to long lines

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Orlando immigration office lines On Thursday, more than 100 people were waiting outside the ICE immigration office in Orlando. (WFTV.com News Staff)

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