A report obtained by MRCTV from President Obama’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) shows at least 73 percent of all illegal alien adults who unlawfully crossed the U.S. border with children since the summer of 2014 did not appear in court for their final immigration hearing.
EOIR told MRCTV in an email that of the 21,163 adults with children released on alternatives to detention (referred to by the administration as AWC/ATDs) whose cases have been closed sometime between July 18, 2014 and March 29, 2016, a total of 17,968 resulted in removal orders (about 85 percent).
Of those ordered removed, 15,351 orders were issued in absentia, meaning the person or family unit was not in court for their final hearing.
Only 3,195 were legally permitted by the court to stay in the United States.
EOIR stated:
For the time period of July 18, 2014, through March 29, 2016, EOIR received 34,895 new charging documents for respondents whom DHS has identified as AWC/ATD. Of those, 22,933 have had a master calendar hearing.
For the same time period, there have been 21,163 initial case completions (ICC) for AWC/ATD. Of these 21,163 ICCs, 17,968 were removal orders, 15,351 of which were issued in absentia; 883 were voluntary departures; 725 were relief granted; 669 were cases that were administratively closed (other); 652 were cases that were terminated; 198 were cases that were administratively closed due to an immigration judge’s determination following DHS’s exercise of prosecutorial discretion; 48 were other immigration judge decisions; and 8 were other administrative completions.
Additionally, about 40 percent of all unaccompanied alien children (UACs) who unlawfully crossed the border in the last two years and were ordered to appear before an immigration judge failed to appear in court. Of the 25,574 UAC cases that have been closed so far by immigration courts, 11,230 of them – about 44 percent – ended with removal orders; 9,913 of these were issued in absentia.
EOIR reports:
Of these 25,574 [initial case completions], 11,230 were removal orders, 9,913 of which were issued in absentia; 7,141 were cases that were administratively closed (other); 5,982 were cases that were terminated; 786 were voluntary departures; 242 were cases that were administratively closed due to an immigration judge’s determination following DHS’s exercise of prosecutorial discretion; 67 were relief granted; 45 were other administrative completions; 42 were cases that were terminated due to an immigration judge’s determination following DHS’s exercise of prosecutorial discretion; and 39 were other immigration judge decisions
Despite immigration courts having ordered 11,230 illegal alien children removed since the summer of FY2014, the Obama administration only deported 1,379 in FY2014 and 1,141 in FY2015. That's nearly 1,700 fewer kids than U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported apprehending at the Southwest U.S. border last month alone.
EOIR also noted it has received 60,433 new charging documents for UACs since July 18, 2014, but has only completed 25,574 cases. Nearly 130,000 unaccompanied minors have crossed the border illegally since the beginning of FY2014.