Backdoor Border: Hundreds of Thousands of Migrants Stay in U.S. Thanks to Case Dismissals

CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO - MAY 30: A group of about 100 migrants is removed by National Guard
Christian Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images

Hundreds of thousands of migrants are allowed to remain in the United States thanks to deportation cases against them being dropped on President Joe Biden’s watch.

Federal data analyzed by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) shows that, under Biden, the number of migrants who have had their deportation cases dropped — thus being allowed to stay in the U.S. — has exploded.

“Thus far during the Biden administration, the proportion [of migrants] allowed to remain in this country has risen to 77 percent, and those ordered removed has been just 22 percent,” TRAC researchers write:

While after the first year, grants of relief have risen sharply, many others have had their cases terminated without a decision on the merits of their asylum claim. These terminations have been part of this administration’s efforts to speed decisions on recent cases and close older cases that weren’t a threat to public safety or national security. Again the stated aim of putting new cases at the head of the line has been to send a signal that might deter individuals without legitimate grounds for seeking asylum to not making the often dangerous journey to our southwest border. [Emphasis added]

backdoor border hundreds of thousands of migrants stay in us thanks to case dismissals

Chart via Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse

The result is more migrants staying in the U.S., either through being granted asylum or having their deportation cases dropped altogether, while a fraction — a little more than twenty percent — are ordered deported.

Oppositely, on former President Donald Trump’s watch, nearly sixty percent of migrants with pending cases were ordered deported from the U.S., TRAC researchers note:

Under the Trump administration, the number granted relief from removal steadily increased until the pandemic hit and court dispositions in general dropped sharply. However, because the policy ended closing cases exercising prosecutorial discretion, the number allowed to remain in the U.S. on grounds other than a grant of relief fell. Thus, the proportion ordered removed during the Trump years was much higher, averaging 57 percent. [Emphasis added]

The revelation comes as the nation’s immigration court backlog exceeds 3.5 million cases — tripling under Biden. When Trump left office, the backlog stood at around one million cases.

Most significantly, those illegal aliens living freely throughout the U.S. because they are on the federal government’s “non-detained docket” is set to hit more than eight million, almost triple the 3.2 million illegal aliens on the non-detained docket in 2020.

Also unprecedented, Biden is expected to see more than ten million migrant encounters at the nation’s borders on his watch — a presidential record never seen before in American history.

EXCLUSIVE: Large Group of Migrants from Many Nations Crosses Border into Arizona

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John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow him on Twitter here.

Authored by John Binder via Breitbart June 3rd 2024