Mass criminal immigration hearings unlawful

The article here talks about the efforts of an Arizona federal court trying to speed up the hearing process on illegal immigration. Rather than hearing each defendant individually, the court chose to use a mass hearing, putting large groups of defendants in the room and asking them if they understood the rights read to them. However the local court of appeals ruled that this format made it difficult for the defendants to understand what was being asked of them and constituted a violation of court procedure and the mass hearings had to be discontinued.

It's interesting to note that the appeal judges, while ruling against the practice, stated that they understood the underlying reason for it. The Arizona court was overwhelmed with immigration cases and attempted to speed things along. The appeals court recognized the need for it, but found that it violated the rules all the same. This is illustrative of how the immigration system as it is now has become a major burden on the U.S. legal system, and without reform from above, local courts are forced to enact improvised systems that risk circumventing the rights of the defendant.