Immigration Court Crisis: Over 500,000 No-Shows Under Biden Administration

The Center for Immigration Studies reports that more than 507,000 illegal immigrants missed their court dates between Fiscal Year 2022 and December 2024, highlighting the implications of current immigration policies and the resulting crisis in the court system.

More than 507,000 illegal immigrants have reportedly failed to attend their mandated court hearings between Fiscal Year 2022 and December 2024, as revealed by a recent analysis from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). This substantial figure has contributed to a serious crisis in the nation’s immigration court system, which is already grappling with over 3 million case backlogs.

Under the Biden administration's catch-and-release policies, many migrants have been released into the U.S. with a mere Notice to Appear—a document instructing them to present themselves at a future court date. However, the analysis indicates that a significant number, over half a million, never made it to their hearings, resulting in in absentia removal orders issued by many immigration judges.

This represents an alarming 45% increase in non-compliance compared to the previous seven years—an era that includes the latter years of the Obama administration and Trump’s first term, which featured more aggressive enforcement and better attendance rates at hearings.

The consequences for the already strained immigration courts have been dire. With the system overwhelmed, judges are compelled to issue default deportation orders, yet these have little effect under the current administration’s policies, leading many of those ordered for removal to simply disappear within the interior of the country.

Andrew R. Arthur from CIS characterized the situation as a systemic failure, attributing the high number of no-shows to the Biden administration’s decision to dismantle the immigration court process by refraining from unnecessarily detaining those who enter the U.S. illegally. Critics argue that the absence of mandatory detention and effective monitoring has rendered the court procedures mere formalities, with justice often delayed or negated.

In response to the crisis, the Trump administration has expressed its intent to reinstitute strict detention-first policies, increase the number of immigration judges, and empower them with the necessary resources to enforce rulings effectively and alleviate the backlog.

Experts warn that without these crucial reforms, immigration courts may continue to face an unmanageable influx, further impeding their function and effectiveness—a clear indication of the pitfalls of the current administration’s border policies.