Immigration courts in the United States are seeing a sharp rise in absent migrants, resulting in over 310,000 deportation orders issued in fiscal year 2025. This surge follows the Trump administration's reversal of a Biden-era policy that had allowed many cases to be dismissed. Experts attribute the no-shows to policy changes and increased arrests at court proceedings.
The number of deportation orders issued in absentia has climbed dramatically in recent years. According to Department of Justice data, immigration judges ordered the removal of more than 310,000 migrants who failed to appear for their hearings in fiscal year 2025, which concluded in September. This marks a significant increase from 223,000 such orders in fiscal year 2024, 160,000 in 2023, 62,000 in 2022, and just 8,000 in 2021.
Andrew Arthur, a resident fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, links this trend to President Donald Trump's decision to overturn a Biden administration policy. That earlier approach had directed judges to dismiss or terminate thousands of cases, enabling over 700,000 undocumented immigrants to remain in the country without legal status. Arthur also points to the release of millions of border crossers by the Biden administration, many of whom never sought immigration status.
"There’s no reason to go to immigration court if you can’t give the immigration judge any legitimate reason to allow you to stay, and in hundreds of thousands of cases last year, respondents didn’t," Arthur told The Daily Wire.
Additionally, the Trump administration has directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct more arrests at immigration courts nationwide. "Of course, DHS under Trump II has also been arresting certain respondents when they appear for their removal proceedings, which has likely given countless respondents plenty of incentive to skip court," Arthur noted.
Despite the incentives to avoid court, Arthur emphasizes due process. "Again, however, those aliens are entitled to the process they are due, and the government will ensure they receive it — they might just be detained throughout that process," he said. He added that the Immigration and Nationality Act initially required detention for most such individuals, limiting grounds for complaint when custody follows.
