Immigrants waiting 10 years in US just to get a court date

SAN DIEGO (AP) — United States immigration offices have become so overwhelmed with processing migrants for court that 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 the now-defunct practise of quickly releasing immigrants on parole.

They were given instructions to report to a US 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 US 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, US Representative 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.

Until then, the migrants in question won't even get an initial court appearance on the books, though they can live and work in the US. After that, their case will work its way through the US immigrant courts — a process that takes about four years amid a backlog that reached 2.1 million cases in January, up from about 600,000 in 2017.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.