Key facts
- The second Trump administration has seen a significant increase in immigration arrests.
- Immigration courts are conducting accelerated mass hearings, leading to a surge in deportation orders.
- Many immigrants are receiving removal orders in absentia, often due to missed hearings.
- Over 78% of completed immigration cases in June ended in a removal order in absentia.
- Mega-masters have resulted in over 20,000 absentia orders nationwide in June.
The second Trump administration has significantly accelerated immigration arrests through a change in immigration court procedures, leading to mass deportations. Recent months have seen a dramatic increase in the closure of immigration cases, primarily driven by courts issuing deportation orders. Many individuals are receiving these orders without adequate time to prepare their cases or even appear in court, a phenomenon attorneys are calling 'mega-masters'.
These accelerated hearings, often a person's first interaction with the court, have become perilous. Historically used for administrative tasks, they are now resulting in judges ordering deportations, sometimes without the immigrant present in the courtroom. This is often because immigrants claim they never received notice of rescheduled hearings, are fearful of attending due to high-profile arrests at courthouses, or face chaotic scheduling that leads to missed appearances.
In Chicago, for example, judges have seen a 120% increase in deportation orders since March, with one judge overseeing as many as 185 fast-tracked cases in a single sitting, compared to a previous norm of around 20. Nationwide, mega-masters in June resulted in over 20,000 absentia orders, representing nearly two out of every five such orders that month. Overall, absentia orders constituted more than two-thirds of all removal decisions from immigration judges in June, with fewer than 2% of completed cases resulting in the person winning any form of relief.
This process serves as a potent tool for mass deportations, as immigrants who miss their hearings, often through no fault of their own, lose the opportunity to argue for asylum or other protections. Reopening these cases is complex and unlikely to succeed without legal representation, which is scarce, with only about one in five immigrants having a lawyer when ordered deported in June. The increase in active removal orders means that routine encounters, like traffic stops, can now more easily lead to detention and deportation, mirroring the consequences of more visible enforcement actions.