Mass hearings, removal orders ‘in absentia’ – judges are wrapping up immigration cases in unprecedented numbers

The second Trump administration recorded its highest number of immigration arrests so far last month. One significant and alarming reason that is far less noticeable than armored, masked agents swaggering in the streets with weapons may be a sudden change in America’s immigration courts.

Here, in recent months, accelerated mass hearings are giving people facing existential questions about their future little time to prepare for their cases, and judges are often ordering vulnerable immigrants deported without them even being in the courtroom.

More than 20,000 unaccompanied children risk going to US immigration court alone after federal funding cuts

Thousands of immigrant children who came to the United States without being accompanied by a parent or guardian are now at imminent risk of losing the attorneys assisting on their legal cases, amid cuts in government funding, advocates warned this week.

The Trump administration has severed ties with nearly a hundred legal organizations across the country that provide immigration advice and has been funneling kids into fast-tracked court hearings.