New fast-track court docket for migrants faces familiar challenges

The average time for U.S. immigration cases to be resolved is nearly four years. But that’s not the mandate in Francisco Prieto’s courtroom.

The New York judge must attempt to rule within 300 days on dozens of cases he hears daily from families that just entered the country. The migrants are being sent to the front of the line with the idea that others will be less likely to migrate knowing a backlog of more than 1.4 million cases will no longer buy them a few years in the United States even if they lose.

Nearly six months ago, the Biden administration established a “dedicated docket” for families, many seeking asylum, in Prieto’s city and 10 others, including Boston, San Francisco, Miami and El Paso. It is a modest step aimed at bringing order to the southern border, where authorities this year have faced unusually high numbers of migrant arrivals, including nearly 15,000, mostly Haitians, who camped under a bridge in the small border town of Del Rio, Texas, in September.

About 35 of the country’s more than 530 immigration judges are assigned to the new docket, according to the most recent data provided by the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees federal immigration courts. Many juggle the duties on top of their normal case loads.

While it’s still early, the effort has made progress: As of mid-september, it was handling nearly 16,000 cases, and more than 100 had received at least an initial decision, according to the agency. It declined to provide more details.

Still, the numbers barely make a dent: Tens of thousands of migrants are released into the country each month, with orders to report to immigration authorities later.

The expedited docket also faces some of the same challenges and complaints as similar efforts under Biden’s two predecessors.

Critics say it rushes the complex work of building asylum cases, making it nearly impossible for migrants to have a fair shot, especially if they can’t secure an attorney in time. Judges follow the same procedures applied in other immigration cases but on a shorter timeline.

During the Obama and Trump administrations, most families that went through similar fast-track dockets lacked legal representation and ultimately were ordered removed from the country, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a D.C. think tank.

Prieto, the New York judge, is among those handling the most cases under the new docket, with more than 1,600 assigned to him by the end of August, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

One day last month, the Trump appointee urged families to find a low- or no-cost attorney on a government referral list. Some said no one answers the phone when they call or they are told they can’t be helped. Prieto told them to persist before he set new court dates.

Neptali Chiluisa, 47, crossed the border in June in Arizona and was detained for a week with his 14-year-old son, leaving behind his wife and three other children in Ecuador.

The son returned in August because Chiluisa had to work and couldn’t find a nearby school with space.

Chiluisa, who rents a room for $800 in a Bronx apartment he shares with other Ecuadorian families, was a boiler specialist for the army and found a similar job at New York construction sites. He acknowledges coming for economic reasons and wonders if he has any options for temporary legal status.

“The U.S. needs workers, so policies should be less harsh with us,” he said. “We come to work.”

A judge told him last month to return to court in November.