Deportation hearings have soared in recent years, but a growing backlog coupled with a lack of resources are leaving many more migrants with an uncertain future as they try to make a life in the United States.
Over 620,000 immigration court deportation cases were filed in fiscal year 2023, with a similar number for the 2024 fiscal year so far, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
Last year, around 236,000 of those cases resulted in removals, more than the 187,000 removals that occurred during the peak of President Donald Trump‘s administration in 2019.
However, court case numbers have been declining in recent months, due to the combination of a growing case backlog across the country and policies in the U.S. and Mexico impacting border crossings.
“The average wait time right now for an asylum case in immigration court is about five years, so that causes a lot of problems,” Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration attorney who teaches at Cornell Law, told Newsweek.
“People have problems hanging on for that long, or they evaporate into the shadows. [So] even if they are ordered deported, nobody can find them.”
So far in the current fiscal year, which began in October 2023, Texas has seen the highest number of deportation cases with 107,699. California and New York follow in the top three, also being states with high immigrant populations.
A backlog grows bigger
Many of those cases were heard at the end of last year, however. Since January, the number of cases in immigration courts has been steadily falling, with tougher immigration policies in both the U.S. and Mexico largely responsible for the decline.
“The Mexican government and law enforcement agencies have been working hard to keep people from making their way to the U.S.-Mexican border,” César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, an immigration scholar at Ohio State University, told Newsweek.
García Hernández said that was forcing more migrants to stay in Mexico, with statistics showing fewer border apprehensions in the U.S. and a corresponding decline in cases reaching immigration courts. President Biden’s effective ban on asylum in June also dramatically slowed crossings.
With an estimated 11.3 million immigrants already in the U.S. without legal status, the chances of processing all of those claims with the current court system is impossible, Yale-Loehr said. “We have not funded the immigration court system adequately to be able to keep up with this increase.”
The professor said that judges are doing the best they can with the resources provided, but cases are often complex and those being prosecuted often cannot afford attorneys to help them navigate the system.
Mass deportations and due process
García Hernández said that the backlog had been growing since before President Biden took office, with understaffing a big part of the problem as more cases are added onto the waitlist.
“That affects the amount of time it takes an individual migrant to figure out what their status is,” García Hernández added. “These are human beings who have complex lives.
“They are simultaneously unsure about what their future holds while, at the same time, living their lives in the present and that means trying to make a living for themselves, building relationships and maintaining those relationships with friends, family members, coworkers and neighbors.”
Increasing deportations has become a big talking point for the Republican party ahead of November, with Trump promising to carry them out en masse if he is reelected.
“Trump said in the first administration that he wanted to deport more people and he didn’t really do that,” Yale-Loehr said, adding that it would not be a straightforward process. “You just cannot deport people without a hearing.
“Due process is embedded in the Constitution and it applies to everyone in the United States and not just U.S. citizens. So, you can’t just round them up and send them across the border.”
Not all deportations require going through the court system, especially if a person is clearly without official paperwork or breaks the rules of their visa, meaning hearing outcomes only make up a percentage of deportation totals.
Overall, the Biden administration has overseen more deportations than the Trump White House did, with over 1.4 million in 2022 alone. In the last year of the Trump administration — which was also affected by the pandemic —there were 608,000 deportations
How does deportation work?
DHS begins the deportation process by placing a person in the U.S. without legal status in “removal proceedings,” kicking off a process that could take anywhere from a few weeks to many years.
If a person is in the country without proper documents, uses forged documentation or fails to comply with their visa requirements, then they could face expedited removal, meaning they could bypass immigration court.
After the migrant is placed in removal proceedings, the next thing they will receive is a “Notice to Appear” document.
That notice includes the date of the hearing and the reason the U.S. government is seeking the person’s removal.
At the first court appearance, known as a Master Calendar Hearing, the immigration judge lays out the charges against the migrant, giving them a chance to admit or deny those charges before another court date is set.
The later hearing is more like an individual court case, with the chance to give testimony and arguments for and against deportation. After this, the judge decides whether to grant relief or issue a removal order.
Deportation timing can also vary widely depending on the processes and laws in the migrant’s home country.
Yale-Loehr co-wrote a report in 2023 recommending sweeping changes to the entire process, including embracing technology for casework and hearings and increasing access to legal representation.
“You certainly could also have more judges at the border,” he suggested. “If you had people who came in and had their asylum claims judged at the border within the first couple of months and then quickly deported, then that would not add to the backlog and people would have a decision more quickly.”
Newsweek reached out to the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice for further comment Monday morning.
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