"The Voice of the New Due Process Army" ————– Musings on Events in U.S. Immigration Court, Immigration Law, Sports, and Other Random Topics by Retired United States Immigration Judge (Arlington, Virginia) and former Chairman of the Board of Immigration Appeals Paul Wickham Schmidt. To see my complete professional bio, just click on the link below.
☹️👎🏽🤡 TRAC: BUILD BACK BETTER MAY BE DOA, BUT “BUILD BACKLOG BIGGER (FASTER)” THRIVES @ GARLAND’S EOIR! — BACKLOG TOPS 1.5 MILLION WITH NO PLAN OR END IN SIGHT! — Backlog Building Rate Accelerates, As ADR Runs Amuck & Garland Shuns Expert Advice, Progressive Judicial Appointments, Creative Solutions! — Now On Pace To Break 2 Million Mark By End Of Summer 2022!
Michigan Stadium, America’s largest, holds 107,601. Garland has added almost that to his EOIR backlog in the first two months of FY 2022. It would take 15 Michigan Stadiums to hold all the folks waiting for hearings in Garland’s dysfunctional and backlogged Immigration Courts. And, that doesn’t include their families, communities, employers, co-workers and others affected by their fates! Michigan Stadium Photo by Andrew Horne, Creative Commons License
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse
Immigration Courts Now Face Backlog of Over 1.5 Million Cases
According to data updated today by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, the number of pending cases in Immigration Court has now reached 1,559,855 as of the end of November 2021. The high number of pending cases puts additional pressure on Immigration Judges who are tasked with deciding these cases.
The Transactional Research Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) a research organization at Syracuse University created ‘Quick Facts‘ tools to provide a user-friendly way to see the most updated data available on the Immigration Courts. The tools include easy-to-understand data in context and provide quotable descriptions. Many of TRAC’s Immigration Court data tools have also been updated and can be viewed by clicking here.
Additional key takeaways from today’s data release include the following:
Immigration Courts recorded receiving 143,803 new cases so far in FY 2022 as of November 2021. This compares with 43,156 cases that the court completed during this two-month period.
According to court records, only 0.51% of FY 2022 new cases sought deportation orders based on any alleged criminal activity of the immigrant, apart from possible illegal entry.
At the end of November 2021, 1,559,855 active cases were pending before the Immigration Court.
Harris County, TX, has the most residents with pending Immigration Court deportation cases (as of the end of November 2021).
So far this fiscal year (through November 2021), immigration judges have issued removal and voluntary departure orders in 24.0% of completed cases, totaling 10,357 deportation orders.
So far in FY 2022 (through November 2021), immigrants from Guatemala top list of nationalities with largest number ordered deported.
Only 20.7% of immigrants, including unaccompanied children, had an attorney to assist them in Immigration Court cases when a removal order was issued.
Immigration judges have held 4,193 bond hearings so far in FY 2022 (through November 2021). Of these 1,613 were granted bond.
TRAC is self-supporting and depends on foundation grants, individual contributions and subscription fees for the funding needed to obtain, analyze and publish the data we collect on the activities of the US Federal government. To help support TRAC’s ongoing efforts, go to:
David Burnham and Susan B. Long, co-directors
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse
Syracuse University
601 E. Genesee Street
Syracuse, NY 13202-3117
315-443-3563
trac@syr.edu
https://trac.syr.edu
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse is a nonpartisan joint research center of the Whitman School of Management (https://whitman.syr.edu) and the Newhouse School of Public Communications (https://newhouse.syr.edu) at Syracuse University. If you know someone who would like to sign up to receive occasional email announcements and press releases, they may go to https://trac.syr.edu and click on the E-mail Alerts link at the bottom of the page. If you do not wish to receive future email announcements and wish to be removed from our list, please send an email to trac@syr.edu with REMOVE as the subject.
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Wow! Garland “jacked up” the backlog by over 100,000 cases in the first two months of of FY 2022! Most impressive! That’s on a torrid pace to exceed 600,000 additional “warehoused” cases annually! At that rate, the Immigration Courts will hit the 2 million mark by the end of August 2022!
That puts the previous “Backlog Kings” Gonzo Apocalypto Sessions and Billy the Bigot Barr to shame!
And, it’s being achieved with more than twice the number of Immigration Judges on board than at the end of the Obama Administration in 2017! After the indolent judicial recruitment and hiring of the Obama era (an incredible average of more than two years to fill a judicial vacancy), the Trump AGs were able to “pack” the Immigration Courts with many judges whose primary qualification appeared to be willingness to grind out removal orders without regard to much besides the DOJ’s virulent anti-immigrant policies, the need to cut corners, and the consistent elevation of expediency over due process and judicial excellence.
One logically might have expected Garland to focus on “unpacking” this mess with an aggressive outreach outreach and new merit-based hiring and recruitment program that sought and valued experience representing individuals in Immigration Court at least as much as government prosecutorial backgrounds. But, not so much.
In particular, the BIA remains “well-packed” with Trump-era appointees, a number of whose appellate judicial credentials were questioned and criticized by immigration and human rights experts! No matter to Garland!
Even “gimmicks” like “dedicated dockets,” phantom, defective “Notices to Appear” (Master @ 9 AM Christmas AM, anyone?)designed to frustrate lawyers and produce in absentia removals, and ramming 80% of unaccompanied minors and others receiving removal orders through the system without lawyers haven’t stemmed the tides of systemic failure!
Truth is, only a distinct minority of recently completed cases resulted in removal or voluntary departure orders (24%). That, combined with the minuscule number of “new filings” that appear to meet the Administration’s highest priorities, criminal activity (0.51%) strongly suggests that the vast majority of pending cases, perhaps as many as 1 million, could be administratively closed, referred to USCIS, “fast-tracked” for relief, or otherwise taken off the docket without adverse effects to either party.
But, despite such pontification, the fact is that the Dems and Garland have completely failed to reform and improve the quality of the one major court system they entirely “own” — the U.S. Immigration Courts. That makes speculation and debate about what could be done to reform and save the credibility of the Article III Courts nothing but feckless idle chatter!
While the DOJ has often pushed the “myth” that backlogs “benefit” immigrants, the truth is quite different. Insurmountable backlogs in Immigration Court, intertwined with Aimless Docket Reshuffling, deny due process to individuals, demoralize and penalize lawyers representing migrants (often serving pro bono or low bono), and cripple our overall justice system.
That’s a national tragedy of epic proportions, unfolding and worsening under Garland and the Dems, the reverberations of which will shake the very foundations of American democracy!
The Trumpsters successfully weaponized the Immigration Courts, without regard to law, institutional integrity, or outside protests and criticism! The Dems appear too timid, disinterested, discombobulated, and lacking in imagination and initiative to fix them while they have a chance! That’s not a good sign for American democracy!
