US Immigration Courts Could Face 16-Year Backlog With Trump's Proposed Mass Deportation Plan

The US immigration system was currently dealing with a backlog of 3.7 million court cases, which would take around four years to resolve at the current pace. However, a new report has revealed that it would take up to 16 years to clear this backlog if President-elect Donald Trump's plan for mass deportations was implemented.

While Trump's proposal for the largest deportation effort sounds ambitious to many, the logistical challenges are immense, as the process of identifying, detaining, holding and deporting people living in the country illegally is highly complicated and costly.

To handle the situation, the Trump administration might need to build new detention centers across the country to hold people suspected of being in the U.S. without proper authorization, potentially for years, Axios reported.

The incoming administration would also need to create monitoring systems for immigrants who are not detained but are waiting for their court dates. The entire operation could cost taxpayers between $150 billion and $350 billion, as per experts estimation.

Immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. without proper authorization are given due process through the immigration court system. This system also handles cases for asylum seekers and others, who may have legal ways to stay in the country.

Out of the 3.7 million pending immigration cases, 1.6 million are for asylum seekers waiting for hearings or decisions on their cases.

Between Oct. 1 last year and Sept. 30 this year, immigration courts resolved 900,000 cases, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University.

This was the highest number of cases resolved in a fiscal year, and was 235,000 more than the previous year. At this pace, it would take until 2028 for immigration courts to clear all active cases, based on an analysis of TRAC data.

Meanwhile, Trump has said 11 million undocumented immigrants would be part of his mass deportation plan, which meant the backlog would be done only by 2040, Axios reported.

Earlier this month, Tom Homan was announced as Trump's choice for "border czar." Homan previously served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during his first term.

Just 12 hours before being named Trump's border czar, Homan said the administration would prioritize dealing with the most dangerous cases first, thus focusing on public safety and national security threats.

"That's how it has to be done," he said. "And we know a record number of people on the terrorist watch list have crossed this border. We know a record number of terrorists have been released in this country."

"We have already arrested some planning attacks. So, look: The president is dead on when he says criminal threats, national security threats are going to be prioritized, and that's the way it's going to be."