Photo: imaginima / E+ / Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Biden administration Friday launched a new court process at immigration hearings in Los Angeles and elsewhere to quickly screen and remove migrants who unlawfully cross the border seeking asylum in the United States, officials announced.
The Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice said Thursday that the new Recent Arrivals Docket process will more expeditiously resolve immigration cases for certain non-citizen single adult arrivals. Migrants placed on the docket will have their cases resolved within 180 days cutting the process down by months or sometimes years, officials said.
DHS and DOJ say the effort will more swiftly impose consequences, including removal, on those without a legal basis to remain in the United States and to quickly grant immigration relief or protections to migrants with valid claims.
"Today, we are instituting with the Department of Justice a process to accelerate asylum proceedings so that individuals who do not qualify for relief can be removed more quickly and those who do qualify can achieve protection sooner," Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas said in a statement Thursday. "This administrative step is no substitute for the sweeping and much-needed changes that the bipartisan Senate bill would deliver, but in the absence of Congressional action we will do what we can to most effectively enforce the law and discourage irregular migration."
The new docket will operate in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and New York City.
"The Justice Department's immigration courts are committed to the just and efficient enforcement of the immigration laws," said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. "These measures will advance that mission by helping to ensure that immigration cases are adjudicated promptly and fairly."
In the current, overwhelmed immigration system, non-citizens arriving at the Mexico-U.S. border often wait years before receiving a final decision in an immigration court proceeding, officials said. Insufficient resources, including insufficient immigration judges and attorneys, has impeded the swift resolution of claims, and extended the length of the immigration court process.