Chris Lange, FISM News
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One in every six new deportation cases is being dismissed over the Department of Homeland Security’s failure to file the required paperwork, according to a new report.
Tens of thousands of migrants who have entered the U.S. illegally have had their cases dismissed before they even set foot inside an immigration courtroom as a result of DHS’s failure to produce key documents, according to a report recently released by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).
The report reveals that dismissals resulting from DHS’s failure to submit required “notice to appear” paperwork have increased dramatically under the Biden administration.
Fewer than 1% of cases were dismissed in the six-year period beginning in FY 2013 and ending in FY 2018. The number increased to 1.7% in FY 2019 and 2.4% in FY 2020.
The percentage jumped significantly, however, in FY 2021 to 10.5% and has already reached 16.6%, representing 47,333 case dismissals, in FY 2022 with three months still to go. TRAC projects a total of 63,107 case dismissals by the end of the fourth quarter.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is required to provide every migrant in their custody a notice to appear before an immigration judge, according to the report. CBP must then provide the court with an electronic version of the document, without which the court has no jurisdiction in the case, resulting in a dismissal.
The TRAC report noted that the dramatic spike in dismissals under the Biden administration “suggests there is a serious disconnect between the CBP agents entering new cases and scheduling hearings through the Court’s ISS [Interactive Scheduling System] system, and other CBP personnel responsible for submitting a copy to the Court.”
TRAC researcher Austin Kocher said the dismissals are adding to chaos and confusion at the border, noting in a tweet that asylum seekers “now have no path to a work authorization card, possibly no path to asylum (unless they have an attorney who will file affirmatively), plus it’s just creating a mess for everyone.”
TRAC used information obtained through a series of Freedom of Information Act requests to compile the report.