More than 507,000 illegal immigrants failed to appear for their court hearings between Fiscal Year 2022 and December 2024, according to a new analysis from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS)—a number that has left the nation’s already overwhelmed immigration court system in disarray.
More than 500k immigrants missed their court hearings on Biden's watch: analysis https://t.co/hBTYtnv6BO
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) April 21, 2025
Under the Biden administration’s catch-and-release policies, tens of thousands of migrants were released into the U.S. with nothing more than a Notice to Appear—a slip of paper asking them to show up at a future court date. But as the CIS report reveals, over half a million simply never showed up, resulting in in absentia removal orders issued by immigration judges.
That figure represents a 45% spike in no-shows compared to the previous seven years combined—a span that includes the latter Obama years and Trump’s first term, during which enforcement was far more aggressive and court compliance rates were considerably higher.
The impact on the courts has been devastating. With immigration dockets already backlogged by over 3 million cases, the surge in no-shows has made it nearly impossible for judges to process cases in a timely manner. Courts are forced to issue default deportation orders, but with no real enforcement mechanism under Biden’s policies, these orders are effectively toothless—and many of those ordered removed simply vanish into the interior.
Andrew R. Arthur of CIS explained that the system wasn’t just strained—it was deliberately broken. “Those 500,000-plus no-shows are a symptom of the Biden administration’s effort to dismantle the immigration court process by refusing to detain those who enter illegally,” he said.
Critics argue that without mandatory detention or effective monitoring, the immigration court system becomes little more than a symbolic formality—one where justice is delayed, often denied, and easily ignored.
Now, the Trump administration is pledging to restore order, bringing back detention-first policies, expanding the number of immigration judges, and giving them the authority and resources needed to enforce rulings and clear the backlog.
Without those reforms, experts warn, the immigration courts will remain flooded, paralyzed, and meaningless—another casualty of Biden’s failed border policies.