ICE lawyers are directed to clear low-priority cases

WASHINGTON » The Biden administration is seeking to clear potentially hundreds of thousands of deportation and asylum cases pending before immigration courts, an unprecedented move that could significantly reduce the current backlog of 1.7 million cases.

In a memo dated Sunday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement directed its lawyers to review cases and try to clear those considered low priority under enforcement guidelines that the administration established last year. The American Immigration Lawyers Association estimates that there are at least 700,000 such cases — about 40% of the court backlog.

The agency would not provide an estimate of how many cases would be cleared under the directive or how long it would take. Previous administrations have moved cases off the court docket but not on such a broad scale. During the eight years of the Obama administration, more than 166,000 immigration cases were administratively closed, according to court data.

The court backlog has ballooned to the largest ever, causing years-long delays for immigrants seeking asylum and other forms of relief. One reason is that the coronavirus pandemic has delayed proceedings. A significant number of cases were added during the Trump administration, especially after a surge in migrants crossing the border illegally in 2019. That administration also reopened tens of thousands of cases that had been removed from the court docket.

The effort to reduce the backlog comes as the Biden administration prepares for what could be the largest increase yet of migrants crossing the border illegally. The surge is expected to coincide with the end of a pandemicera public health order that has given border officials the authority to quickly expel migrants.

An ICE official, authorized by the agency to speak publicly without being identified, said lawyers would review each case before the court to see if it met the administration’s priorities for enforcement: cases that involve a public safety or national security threat, as well as those involving people who recently crossed the border without documentation.