Over 63,000 immigration cases were stopped in FY2022 due to alleged DHS errors by border patrol agents. The claim states the agents did not file Notice to Appear (NTA) papers with the immigration court, as required. The finding, from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), found 63,586 pending immigration cases were tossed as some Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents failed to file the appropriate paperwork. TRAC states the information was gathered through a series of Freedom of Information Act requests.

Without an NTA, immigration cannot proceed. As a result of this missed filing, one in every six immigration cases was thrown out, per TRAC. Further, without the properly filed NTA, the individual, and perhaps their attorney, may appear at hearings only to find the case was dismissed as it was never filed. Clearly, with the immigration backlog, time is a very precious commodity. This oversight stresses an already stressed resource.

This finding echoes a previous investigation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which was released in July 2022. In that report, TRAC found that some CBP officials were not filing the appropriate NTA with the courts. Miami’s dedicated docket hearing location had the highest number of NTA closures with 7,700 of the total 9,492 case completions for the fiscal year 2022 being dismissals due to lack of NTA filing.

This issue of failing to file NTA documents was a rare occurrence until the border agents were given the ability to use the immigration court’s interactive scheduling system. The system allows approved users to directly schedule an initial hearing for a matter with the court. When the hearing is scheduled, the NTA is created with a copy provided to the individual. The NTA provides the hearing location and time. The CBP agents must then ensure the Court receives a copy of the NTA for their information. It seems the DHS errors occurred as part of this change.

Case dismissals have fallen each month, although the number of newly filed cases has risen. As such, it seems the NTA issue has been addressed to some extent. However, in September 2022, an estimated 5,200 cases were thrown out by judges, roughly a 13% rate, similar to the average per month for FY2022. Clearly, the issue seems to be continuing.

If you have questions about your NTA, immigration hearing, or any other immigration-related issue, please contact us. We work with our clients to ensure they get the proper guidance for their particular situations. We’re with you every step of the way.