Immigration Court No-Shows Soar in FY 2024
On track to exceed 170K as immigration enforcement has become kabuki theater, and you’re paying the price
By Andrew R. Arthur on April 10, 2024
The latest disclosures from the Department of Justice (DOJ) reveal that the number of alien respondents who failed to appear for removal proceedings is soaring — on track to exceed 170,000 in FY 2024, which would best last year’s record of nearly 160,000. Those aliens may be under orders of removal, but the Biden administration has no inclination — let alone plans — to remove them. Which is why so many aliens likely didn’t bother to appear.
In Absentia Orders of Removal. Section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), governs removal proceedings in immigration court.
Removal cases are heard by immigration judges (IJs), a position I held for more than eight years. Those IJs determine whether alien respondents are removable, consider bond requests, adjudicate applications for “relief” from removal (asylum, adjustment of status, cancellation of removal, etc.), and when appropriate, issue orders of removal.
That entire process is generally dependent, of course, on respondents actually appearing in court. While the Biden administration detains a tiny fraction of the three million-plus aliens currently in proceedings, the vast majority are free to live here while their cases are proceedings.
Congress anticipated that some respondents would fail to appear, and consequently section 240(b)(5)(A) of the INA provides, in pertinent part, that:
https://cis.org/Arthur/Immigration-Court-NoShows-Soar-FY-2024
