The Biden administration announced a new process they hope will speed up decisions on cases for illegal immigrants hoping to gain documented status.
Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas discussed the move in a press release on Thursday.
“Today, we are instituting with the Department of Justice a process to accelerate asylum proceedings so that individuals who do not qualify for relief can be removed more quickly and those who do qualify can achieve protection sooner,” he said.
The newly established docket will encompass immigrants who are released from custody into the United States with notices to report to court in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City.
Judges assigned to these cases will also strive to decide on them within 180 days. That would be a rapid turnaround compared to the current multi-year wait, which more often than not results in a judge ordering deportation.
Immigrants often cross illegally claiming asylum, which makes them eligible for work permits within six months of arrival. Critics of the policy say it incentivizes crossings even if the claims are ultimately weak.
The longer immigrants stay in the US and establish family or community ties, the more opposition there is to eventually deporting them back to their home country.
“This administrative step is no substitute for the sweeping and much-needed changes that the bipartisan Senate bill would deliver, but in the absence of Congressional action we will do what we can to most effectively enforce the law and discourage irregular migration.”
Researchers are Syracuse University said the immigration court system under the Department of Justice Executive Office of Immigration Review has a backlog of over 3.5 million cases.
Immigration has consistently polled in voters’ top three issues, if not the number one issue.
“It’s a political response because the problem is so enormous and people are concerned, but it’s really just a superficial Band-Aid on a gaping wound,” retired immigration judge Dana Leigh Marks said. “It’s never worked in the past and there’s no reason to think this time would be different.”
