(NewsNation) — As the U.S. continues to deal with record numbers of migrants and asylum-seekers crossing the southern border, the border crisis is made worse by a backlogged and slow immigration court system.
Immigration courts are tasked with processing asylum claims and removal proceedings for those who entered the country without going through legal channels. The right to ask for asylum applies regardless of whether someone enters the U.S. through a port of entry or crosses illegally, but all asylum cases still have to go through the court system.
Once immigrants are processed, they’re given a court date to appear for the next step in their case. But because of the recent influx of migrants and a lack of resources, many of those follow-up dates have been up to five years out.
NewsNation obtained two order-to-appear notices from two migrants, both issued just five days ago. One had an appearance date in September of 2027 and the other was for July 2029.
Data from TracImmigration shows the backlog of cases has now topped 3 million, with each judge in the system being assigned roughly 4,500 cases. It’s a big jump from last year’s backlog of 2 million.
The immigration court system has been dealing with backlogs for years, but the increase in cases began rising dramatically around 2020. In December of 2016, there was a backlog of 533,909. By December 2019, that number jumped to 1,089,696 and by December 2022, the backlog stood at 2,056,328.
The problem is resources. In addition to a lack of border patrol agents, there aren’t enough judges to handle the cases.
At the end of Title 42 in May, Department of Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas said the Biden administration was increasing personnel to address the then-expected surge in migrants crossing the border after the COVID-era immigration policy lifted.
“We have surged 24,000 Border Patrol Agents and Officers, and thousands of troops, contractors, and over a thousand asylum officers and judges to see this through. We are clear-eyed about the challenges we are likely to face in the days and weeks ahead, and we are ready to meet them,” Mayorkas said at the time.
Title 42 allowed border agents to turn people away at the border without going through official removal proceedings. But because people were not removed, they also faced no penalties for attempting to cross again at another time as they do under the current Title 8 policy.
The Biden administration has requested funding for hiring additional judges in a supplemental funding request currently being discussed in Congress, including funding for Ukraine and Israel and money for border security.
But the number in the request falls short of the number of judges that would be needed to work through the backlog of cases.
Meanwhile, more immigrants continue to cross the border.
Customs and Border Patrol sources confirm that more than 12,200 people crossed into the U.S. through the southern border on Tuesday, nearly 3,000 of those in the Tucson sector. In the Del Rio sector, where NewsNation has been reporting from Eagle Pass, more than 4,400 crossed on the same day.
As long as the surge continues, court cases will continue to pile up.
