Biden Administration Warns Supreme Court of Potential Avalanche of Deportation Cases if Key Case is Lost

The Biden administration has warned the Supreme Court that hundreds of thousands of deportation cases could be reset and sent back into the immigration system if the justices rule against the administration in a key case regarding the use of immigration notices. The case, which revolves around Notices to Appear (NTAs) and the proper notice given to illegal immigrants before their release into the interior, has raised concerns about the potential impact on the immigration system if the lower court orders are upheld.

The administration’s concerns stem from the fact that many NTAs do not include a court date and only state “TBD,” with a separate court date later being mailed to the illegal immigrant. If the immigrant fails to appear for that hearing, they can be ordered deported “in absentia.” However, the lawyers for the illegal immigrants argue that these two separate mailings do not count as proper notice as dictated by statute.

The government, on the other hand, argues that such practices do count as proper notice and that the potential consequences of a ruling in favor of the illegal immigrants would be unfair to those who followed the rules and attended their removal proceedings. The number of in absentia orders of removal has risen sharply amid the recent border crisis, from 380 in 2021 to over 11,000 in 2023.

The case is the latest in a series of immigration cases to face the Supreme Court, which has dealt with a range of issues related to illegal immigration and border security in recent years. The court will also take up a dispute between Texas and the government over Texas’ construction of razor wire at the border and whether federal officials can cut it. The government has also sued Texas over its new anti-illegal immigration law, which allows state and local law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, the immigration court backlog is now over 3 million, and the number of illegal immigrants on the non-detained docket is over 6 million. In December alone, there were 302,000 migrant encounters. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has acknowledged that the majority of illegal immigrants released into the US are currently being released at a rate “above 85%.”

Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security. He can be reached at adam.shaw2@fox.com or on Twitter.