Unrepresented Families Seeking Asylum on "Dedicated Docket" Ordered Deported by Immigration Courts

According to the latest case-by-case records through December 2021 from the Immigration Courts, over 72,000 cases involving asylum seeking families have been assigned to the Court’s “Dedicated Docket” (DD) initiative. The monthly pace of new cases on the Court’s Dedicated Docket ranged from 12,000 – 16,000 a month since August, although it dipped to 10,000 during December[1]. See Figure 1. Dedicated Docket cases made up nearly one in five (18%) of all new Notices to Appear (NTAs[2]) filed at the Court during this period.


Figure 1. Asylum Seekers Assigned by Month to the Immigration Court's Dedicated Docket and Number Currently Represented
(Click for larger image)

When the Dedicated Docket program was created in May 2021, the Biden administration set a goal of issuing decisions in these cases within 300 days from their initial master calendar hearing. This is an ambitious goal given that TRAC’s research has shown that about 667,000 asylum seekers are still waiting for Immigration Court hearings to resolve their cases, with an average wait time of 1,621 days—nearly four and a half years.

Critics have been quick to point out the failures of past administrations in implementing so-called “rocket dockets”, which similarly attempted to expedite a subset of immigration cases. Prolonged delays in deciding cases can have negative consequences for the Immigration Court system and for migrants themselves. But when cases are rushed, asylum seekers may not have the time to obtain an attorney and prepare documents that would allow the court to make a fully-informed decision, and judges may be forced into making rushed decisions.

This report presents findings providing an early reading on how the Dedicated Docket initiative is working thus far. The Dedicated Docket program has been operating for roughly seven (7) months. This is certainly less than the 300 day target that was set as the goal for completing cases, but there is enough data to draw initial conclusions about how the program is working. Already 12 percent of the cases (11,225) have been completed according to Court records. Less than 5 percent of asylum seekers (4,980 cases) have filed their asylum application as yet with the Court.

Findings are based upon case-by-case Court files obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. These data were obtained through a series of Freedom of Information requests to the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), an administrative unit within the Justice Department where the Immigration Courts are currently based.

Majority of Families on the Dedicated Docket Do Not Have an Attorney

In light of the widespread acknowledgement of the important role that immigration attorneys play, the Biden administration claimed that “fairness will not be compromised” in Dedicated Docket cases and said it selected Dedicated Docket court locations “with established communities of legal services providers.[3]

How successful have asylum seekers been in securing legal representation? So far 15.5 percent of asylum seekers on the Dedicated Docket are now represented by attorneys according to Court records. Securing an attorney takes time, so the proportion of represented cases is higher for people admitted into the program at an earlier date and lower for people who were only recently added. But even for data from June 2021, the first full month of the program’s operation, less than half—just 45 percent—of cases have an attorney on record, and the proportion of representation falls off quickly in later months.

The Biden administration claimed that the timebound completion goals of the Dedicated Docket would nonetheless allow “time for families to seek representation where needed.” In addition to allowing adequate time to find an attorney, there further needs to be an adequate supply of immigration attorneys. A sudden influx of asylum seekers to a specific court can exceed the capacity of available immigration attorneys to handle this caseload, especially on an expedited time schedule.

Representation rates on asylum cases which were decided during this same period – almost all on a regular, rather than expedited, docket—show 91.1 percent had attorneys[4]. Thus, there is still a significant gap between the current representation rates for asylum seekers on the Dedicated Docket—even those whose cases began at least six months ago—and the overall representation rates for asylum seekers whose cases were decided during this period. See Table 1.

Table 1. Cases Assigned to the Immigration Court's Dedicated Docket Initiative by Representation Status, as of December 2021
Time Period Assigned to Dedicated Docket Percent With Attorney
All No Attorney Attorney
Earlier 12 5 7 58.3%
May 2021 73 30 43 58.9%
June 2021 1,637 898 739 45.1%
July 2021 4,153 2,530 1,623 39.1%
Aug 2021 12,632 9,133 3,499 27.7%
Sept 2021 14,501 11,653 2,848 19.6%
Oct 2021 12,452 10,825 1,627 13.1%
Nov 2021 16,780 15,998 782 4.7%
Dec 2021 10,049 9,992 57 0.6%
Total 72,289 61,064 11,225 15.5%

One in Ten Cases Closed Because of DHS’s Failure to Prosecute

A total of 1,557 asylum seekers on the Dedicated Docket have received deportation orders so far. Of these, only 75 – just 4.7 percent – had representation. By contrast, since the start of the Dedicated Docket program just 13 people—all represented—have been granted asylum or another form of lawful relief from deportation.

Most outcomes to date involve neither deportation orders nor grants of relief. The largest volume of completions occurred when Immigration Judges promptly closed the government’s case. TRAC found that 7,053 cases (10 percent of all filings) have been dismissed because of DHS’s “failure to prosecute.” This is the official reason recorded if the actual filing of the Notice to Appear has not reached the Court by the time the first hearing is scheduled. In this situation, the Court doesn’t have jurisdiction to hear the case. Thus, one unanticipated consequence of the Dedicated Docket has been the failure of the government to keep up with the necessary paperwork 10 percent of the time.

Of the completed cases where the Court had jurisdiction (i.e. an NTA was properly filed with the Court), 94 percent have resulted in ordering deportation, either because the Judge issued a removal order (in 1,557 cases) or a voluntary departure order (in 30 cases) which requires the person to leave the country on their own. Only 6 percent of completed cases have resulted in the asylum seeker being permitted to remain in the country lawfully on either a temporary or permanent basis. The largest category of these were 38 terminated cases (2.3%), followed by 23 (1.4%) administrative closures. The full array of dispositions is shown below in Table 2.

Table 2. Outcome of Dedicated Docket Cases as of December 2021
Case Status Number Percent
Total Dedicated Docket Cases Filed
Total Cases Filed 72,289
NTA not filed 7,053 9.8%
Remaining Cases 65,236 90.2%
Completed Cases
Removal Ordered 1,557 92.3%
Voluntary Departure 30 1.8%
Withdrawn 1 0.1%
Terminated 38 2.3%
Relief Granted 13 0.8%
Dismissed by IJ 19 1.1%
Pros. Discretion Closure 6 0.4%
Administrative Closure 23 1.4%
Total Completed Cases 1,687 100.0%
Remaining Pending Cases
Still Pending 63,549 87.9%

Caseloads in Individual Dedicated Docket Hearing Locations

Initially, as TRAC reported, most asylum-seeking families assigned to the Dedicated Docket were sent to the New York City DD hearing location. Later the flow shifted to the Boston’s DD Court.

As of the end of December 2021, the Court with the largest number of Dedicated Docket cases has shifted to Miami, which was assigned the majority of new cases in November. It now has 15,786 DD cases, followed by Boston with 14,939, and New York City with 12,996 DD cases. Newark is close behind with 11,487 cases. While there may be administrative reasons to funnel cases in concentrated bunches to a particular hearing location, it certainly puts pressure on judges assigned at those locations to suddenly handle this large influx of cases with expedited hearing schedules.

After Miami, Boston, New York City, and Newark, the remaining seven of the special Dedicated Docket Courts have many fewer cases. San Diego, Detroit, and El Paso have the least cases. Each of these Courts have less than a thousand cases thus far. See Table 3 for how the funneling of DD cases changed from month-to-month.

Title 3. Cases Assigned to the Immigration Court's Dedicated Docket Initiative by Location and Month
Dedicated Docket Hearing Locations Total NTAs Date of Notice to Appear (NTA) in Immigration Court Issued by Customs and Border Protection
Before May 2021 June 2021 July 2021 Aug 2021 Sept 2021 Oct 2021 Nov 2021 Dec 2021
All 72,289 12 73 1,637 4,153 12,632 14,501 12,452 16,780 10,049
Miami 15,786 0 40 383 411 1,472 2,681 2,980 5,186 2,633
Boston 14,939 2 4 8 532 3,035 3,360 2,894 3,396 1,708
New York City 12,996 1 18 658 1,622 3,330 2,209 1,590 1,968 1,600
Newark 11,487 0 0 55 321 1,630 3,411 2,201 2,173 1,696
Los Angeles 5,434 0 0 48 306 922 893 827 1,430 1,008
San Francisco 3,909 3 7 252 323 598 453 653 1,145 475
Denver 2,364 3 0 77 120 376 444 402 631 311
Non-DD Court 2,055 3 4 109 242 698 359 286 245 109
Seattle 1,597 0 0 18 118 236 437 299 278 211
San Diego 707 0 0 9 92 170 94 151 103 88
Detroit 673 0 0 14 57 116 98 107 145 136
El Paso 342 0 0 6 9 49 62 62 80 74

Screening by Nationality

The Court’s most recent data continue to suggest that there is selectivity exercised in admitting families into the Dedicated Docket program based upon nationality of the family. As we previously reported, based on data through July of 2021, the DD nationality composition does not resemble the general make up of individuals seeking entry to this country along our border with Mexico. Comparisons are challenging to make because of the limited availability of data, especially for parallel time periods. Some commentators have suggested that if a country will accept Title 42 expulsions, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will choose expulsion rather than permitting the person to enter the country through the Dedicated Docket initiative. If this is true, it suggests that the composition of nationalities on the Dedicated Docket are shaped by the politics of Title 42 expulsions rather than the demographics of people seeking asylum in the United States.

During this past year fully half of those admitted into the Dedicated Docket program are from only three countries. These three countries along with the proportion they comprise of the 72,289 individuals assigned thus far to the program are: Brazil (25%), Ecuador (16%) and Honduras (10%). They are followed by Nicaragua (8%) and Venezuela (8%). Table 4 provides a complete listing of the nationalities with at least 5 individuals who have been assigned to the program.

A second relevant finding about nationality concerns the concentration of some nationalities in specific Courts. More than three out of four (77%) Brazilian nationals on the Dedicated Docket have been assigned to the Court in Boston, while more than half (59%) of those from Ecuador ended up assigned to the Court in New York City. This concentration may reflect the timing of when the major surge of these nationality groups were assigned into the program, and the administration’s practice of sending waves to specific cities rather than distributing them evenly among the 11 cities with Dedicated Dockets. See Table 5, and compare with Tables 3 and 4 showing the timing of assignments to the program by nationality and Court.

Dedicated Docket Case Tracking Still Not Fully Implemented

As TRAC previously reported, the Immigration Courts are still failing to implement consistent tracking of Dedicated Docket cases within their own records. To properly manage this initiative and provide accurate, timely reporting to the public and the current administration, all families assigned to this program should be reliably tracked.

To its credit, the Court did set up a special "DD" (Dedicated Docket) flag to be recorded on each case assigned to this program. Unfortunately, no procedures appear to have been put in place to ensure that cases assigned to the Dedicated Docket actually have this flag recorded in the Court's database system which is relied on to manage the Court's workload[5]. As of the end of December, one quarter (24%) of cases that have been assigned to the special hearing locations set up to exclusively handle Dedicated Dockets were not flagged as “DD” cases. While this is an improvement from August when fully 38 percent of cases had not been flagged, it is still woefully inadequate to fail to identify a quarter of all Dedicated Docket cases[6].

Reliable tracking is even more important now, because as time passes and cases accumulate more complex procedural histories, it becomes more difficult to reliably identify these cases. For example, a few families are being allowed to transfer their cases to hearing locations outside the Dedicated Docket network. Without having a consistent flag assigned them, these cases suddenly lose their status in the Court’s database management system of ever being part of the Dedicated Docket initiative.

This means that the administration, lawmakers, and the public should be concerned about the quality of Dedicated Docket data released by the EOIR if based on its current inadequate flagging system.

Title 4. Cases Assigned to the Immigration Court's Dedicated Docket Initiative by Nationality and Month
Nationality Total NTAs Date of Notice to Appear (NTA) in Immigration Court Issued by Customs and Border Protection
Before May 2021 June 2021 July 2021 Aug 2021 Sept 2021 Oct 2021 Nov 2021 Dec 2021
All 72,289 12 73 1,637 4,153 12,632 14,501 12,452 16,780 10,049
Brazil 17,802 1 16 134 570 3,521 4,669 3,549 3,215 2,127
Ecuador 11,566 1 21 597 1,394 3,217 2,641 1,446 1,326 923
Honduras 6,956 0 8 122 480 1,317 1,186 1,191 1,857 795
Nicaragua 5,652 1 8 158 321 806 705 754 1,995 904
Venezuela 5,650 0 0 112 146 347 947 997 1,908 1,193
Guatemala 5,239 2 0 110 443 1,253 931 814 1,119 567
Haiti 4,405 0 2 119 254 607 830 590 1,083 920
Cuba 4,103 0 16 83 49 267 761 1,050 1,303 574
El Salvador 3,896 4 0 87 290 521 601 703 1,083 607
Colombia 2,368 0 0 4 32 182 408 512 725 505
Peru 1,081 0 0 4 22 84 91 276 319 285
Chile 1,003 0 1 16 34 140 166 148 291 207
Mexico 388 1 0 42 31 81 79 64 40 50
India 299 0 0 4 0 31 47 67 82 68
Russia 281 0 0 14 17 55 73 42 39 41
Armenia 272 0 0 0 5 37 90 54 58 28
Uzebekistan 249 0 0 18 18 41 66 25 35 46
Romania 165 0 0 1 16 18 23 30 53 24
Turkey 164 0 0 0 15 15 43 17 30 44
Angola 70 0 0 0 0 12 15 11 22 10
Ghana 57 0 0 2 0 3 7 3 26 16
Democratic Republic of Congo 55 0 0 0 0 18 12 9 9 7
Panama 42 0 0 1 1 6 7 10 9 8
Georgia 36 0 0 3 0 4 9 2 14 4
Congo 34 0 0 0 0 7 7 12 4 4
Belize 34 0 0 0 4 3 3 4 10 10
Argentina 32 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 11 16
Costa Rica 31 0 1 1 2 6 4 5 9 3
Uruguay 30 0 0 1 0 5 9 4 8 3
Dominican Republic 21 0 0 0 0 2 4 6 5 4
China 19 0 0 0 1 3 6 0 0 9
Spain 17 0 0 0 0 4 3 2 5 3
Portugal 15 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 9 1
Bangladesh 15 0 0 0 1 0 4 2 6 2
Tajikistan (Tadzhik) 15 0 0 0 0 6 4 0 5 0
Bolivia 13 0 0 0 1 1 1 4 4 2
France 13 0 0 0 0 1 1 6 4 1
Ukraine 13 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 5 0
Pakistan 11 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 6 0
Togo 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 7
Guinea 11 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 6 3
Jamaica 9 0 0 2 0 0 3 2 2 0
Azerbaijan 8 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 5
Holland 8 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 3
Afghanistan 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 0
Mali 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 4
Belarus 6 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 2 0
Kazakhstan 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0
East Timor 5 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 0
Nigeria 5 0 0 1 1 0 2 1 0 0
Guinea Bissau 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 0
Syria 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Cameroon 5 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1
All Other 79 2 0 0 5 5 17 15 20 15
Title 5. Cases Assigned to the Immigration Court's Dedicated Docket Initiative by Nationality and Court, as of December 2021
Nationality Total NTAs Dedicated Docket Hearing Location
Miami Boston New York City Newark Los Angeles San Francisco Denver Non-DD Court Seattle San Diego Detroit El Paso
All 72,289 15,786 14,939 12,996 11,487 5,434 3,909 2,364 2,055 1,597 707 673 342
Brazil 17,802 1,354 11,562 150 3,523 17 191 29 527 414 21 14 0
Ecuador 11,566 57 756 7,643 2,812 41 9 15 195 11 13 9 5
Honduras 6,956 940 393 1,157 1,321 832 744 592 243 402 38 194 100
Nicaragua 5,652 2,295 41 408 325 881 732 570 156 143 24 70 7
Venezuela 5,650 3,495 115 396 322 176 147 432 190 118 18 116 125
Guatemala 5,239 488 612 542 797 1,148 788 245 163 193 126 122 15
Haiti 4,405 2,074 606 477 624 14 26 7 152 33 349 43 0
Cuba 4,103 3,783 5 15 52 14 8 50 78 16 6 27 49
El Salvador 3,896 135 381 644 430 1,028 722 241 132 146 7 19 11
Colombia 2,368 440 54 682 290 577 198 34 66 12 2 7 6
Peru 1,081 52 28 195 572 65 100 30 12 25 0 0 2
Chile 1,003 432 144 128 168 5 10 6 31 6 53 15 5
Mexico 388 86 11 25 30 45 70 57 14 2 34 8 6
India 299 4 33 62 31 31 101 9 19 3 0 6 0
Russia 281 21 1 56 14 146 1 0 25 17 0 0 0
Armenia 272 0 1 0 0 252 1 0 18 0 0 0 0
Uzebekistan 249 16 0 211 17 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0
Romania 165 12 5 0 0 93 19 11 1 23 0 1 0
Turkey 164 3 3 35 72 5 28 2 3 3 0 3 7
Angola 70 0 57 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 4 0 0
Ghana 57 0 5 28 15 3 0 0 3 0 0 3 0
Democratic Republic of Congo 55 0 50 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 0
Panama 42 17 0 4 7 3 3 3 3 0 0 2 0
Georgia 36 0 0 28 3 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0
Congo 34 0 26 0 0 0 0 4 1 3 0 0 0
Belize 34 0 1 2 3 12 3 3 0 0 1 9 0
Argentina 32 7 1 8 7 8 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Costa Rica 31 13 3 5 4 1 1 0 1 3 0 0 0
Uruguay 30 22 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 4
Dominican Republic 21 0 4 5 10 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
China 19 1 0 3 0 13 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
Spain 17 7 2 2 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Portugal 15 1 9 0 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Bangladesh 15 3 0 7 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Tajikistan (Tadzhik) 15 0 0 10 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0
Bolivia 13 8 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
France 13 0 0 6 3 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 0
Ukraine 13 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 9 0 0 0
Pakistan 11 0 0 10 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Togo 11 0 0 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0
Guinea 11 0 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0
Jamaica 9 0 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Azerbaijan 8 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0
Holland 8 1 0 1 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Afghanistan 7 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 5 0 0 0
Mali 7 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Belarus 6 0 0 0 4 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0
Kazakhstan 6 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0
East Timor 5 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Nigeria 5 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
Guinea Bissau 5 0 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Syria 5 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cameroon 5 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
All Other 79 17 22 10 8 8 0 4 3 2 4 1 0

Footnotes

[1] TRAC found the flag EOIR had assigned to tag cases assigned to the DD process unreliable and therefore used a composite measure that included individuals so flagged along with any other individuals who at any point were assigned to a "DD" special hearing location EOIR has established to process these cases.

[2] The Notice to Appear (NTA) is a charging document typically issued by the Department of Homeland Security to persons that the agency believes are in the country unlawfully and should be deported. An NTA represents the beginning of the deportation process through the Immigration Courts, and may end in temporary or permanent lawful status, a deportation order, or other legal outcomes.

[3] See https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/dhs-and-doj-announce-dedicated-docket-process-more-efficient-immigration-hearings.

[4] See TRAC’s asylum decision tool at: https://trac.syr.edu/phptools/immigration/asylum/.

[5] In a formal Freedom of Information request submitted by TRAC to the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) noting the unreliability of the recording of the DD flag, TRAC requested any additional data "the EOIR is using to identify such individuals and families." EOIR responded that apart from the DD flag, no other records were located.

[6] In addition, 1,481 cases flagged as “DD” cases were not ever shown assigned to a Dedicated Docket hearing location. An additional 17,220 lacked the “DD” flag but were assigned to a DD hearing location. Of these, 574 cases were subsequently shown as transferring to a non-DD hearing location. The 2,055 cases currently shown as at non-DD hearing locations in Tables 3 and 5 are made up of these 1,481+574 cases.

TRAC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit data research center affiliated with the Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Whitman School of Management, both at Syracuse University. For more information, to subscribe, or to donate, contact trac@syr.edu or call 315-443-3563.