Migrants processed into the US as asylum seekers are being given immigration court dates more than a decade away.
In Brownsville, migrants who arrived in the US Thursday showed The Post their paperwork with designated court dates set as late as 2032 and 2035 in Chicago and Florida.
Now they have been admitted to the county and given a court date, the migrants can receive a work permit and legally live and work in the US until their case comes up.
Others who had immigration court hearings set for August 2023 in a Maryland immigration court and March 2027 at a Dallas immigration court.
Two people heading to New York City had dates listed for 2025.
Backlogs at immigration courts currently stand at 2.1 million cases waiting to be heard.
There are around 600 immigration court judges deciding asylum cases, and in the last financial year, they closed approximately 312,000 cases.
According to data from the Justice Department, 2022 saw the highest number of asylum applications on record, with almost 700,000 filed. --->READ MORE HERE
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| AP Photo/Gregory Bull |
U.S. immigration offices have become so overwhelmed with processing migrants for court that some some asylum-seekers who crossed the border at Mexico may be waiting a decade before they even get a date to see a judge.
The backlog stems from a change made two months after President Joe Biden took office, when Border Patrol agents began now-defunct practice of quickly releasing immigrants on parole. They were given instructions to report to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office at their final destination to be processed for court — work previously done by the Border Patrol.
The change prevented the kind of massive overcrowding of holding cells in 2019, when some migrants stood on toilets for room to breathe. But the cost became evident as ICE officers tasked with issuing court papers couldn’t keep pace.
Offices in some cities are now telling migrants to come back years from now, and the extra work has strained ICE’s capacity for its traditional work of enforcing immigration laws in the U.S. interior.
“We’re being stretched to the limit,” said Jamison Matuszewski, director of enforcement and removal operations in San Diego.
As for migrants, waits to get a court date vary. In New York, ICE told asylum-seekers this month to return in March 2033, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat, said at a recent hearing. In nine other cities — San Antonio; Miramar, Florida; Los Angeles; Jacksonville, Florida; Milwaukee; Chicago; Washington; Denver; and Mount Laurel, New Jersey — the wait is until March 2027. --->READ MORE HERE
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