Insight - Wave of migrant children threatens to swamp U.S. immigration courts

Father Fabian Arias, (2nd R) an advocate with the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York City, an immigration advocacy group, speaks with immigrants following their immigration hearings at the U.S. Federal Building in New York, in this July 10, 2014 file photo. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/Files

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A deluge of Central American children pouring into the United States threatens to burst the seams of already overstuffed immigration courts, and President Barack Obama's steps to ease the crisis are likely to make matters worse rather than better for some, U.S. officials and immigration lawyers said.

"We are reaching a point of implosion, if we have not already reached it," said Judge Dana Leigh Marks of San Francisco, who has been deciding immigration cases since 1987 and is president of the National Association of Immigration Judges.