In-absentia deportation orders in Miami doubled from May to July
The Trump administration’s new “mega master” calendar hearings at Miami’s immigration court produced blocks-long lines and docket sizes that more than doubled from the prior system, NPR reported Tuesday. Under the previous format, each immigration judge handled about three dozen cases per day; under the new mega master hearings, judges more regularly see dockets of over 100 people, sometimes calling dozens of cases at once.
Since the new scheduling format took effect, in-absentia deportation orders have spiked to a record high, according to the legal-tech platform bklg. In July, more than 54,000 immigrants nationwide were ordered deported for missing their court hearings. The June figure was 56,000. Both reflect a 60% increase over recent months.
At the Miami immigration court specifically, in-absentia orders rose from 1,383 in May to 2,886 in July — a 108% increase.
On Tuesday morning, hundreds of people waited in a line stretching across several blocks outside the Miami court. Yerandy Gonzalez stepped aside and lit a cigarette. “This is crazy, man,” he said in Spanish. Every person in line had a scheduled hearing; for many, it was their first court appearance.
Avene Jeanite, a 52-year-old Haitian man, had accompanied a friend facing deportation at the Miami court the previous month. Tuesday was his own appointment. “It was not like this — you would go to the door and they’d let you in,” Jeanite said. “Today is completely different.”
Inside courtroom 24, where recording is not allowed, it was standing room only. NPR saw Judge Xavier Racine call a group of some 30 people at once, read them their rights, and assign them new court hearings a month out. Other judges have assigned hearings as quickly as two weeks out.
A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement that “reducing the immigration court backlog remains one of the highest priorities for this administration.” A spokesperson for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the agency that oversees immigration courts, said the agency “will continue to make scheduling adjustments to ensure all cases are handled in a timely and lawful manner” as it adds more immigration judges.
David Wilson, vice chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s immigration court committee, said: “It’s a very unfair, but a very effective tactic.” Wilson said the mega master hearings create chaos because courts struggle to send notices in a timely manner and immigrants struggle to find legal representation. “When that happens, it generates a significant no-show rate,” Wilson said.
The Miami docket has expanded for three stated reasons. The Trump administration is arresting a record monthly number of immigrants, the administration is moving up court dates that had been scheduled for 2027, and the administration is requiring people to appear in cases that prior administrations had deemed low priority because of high dismissal probabilities.
Yeriné, a 30-year-old Venezuelan mother who asked NPR to use only her first name because she fears jeopardizing her immigration case, had a court appointment originally scheduled for May 2027 that was moved up to Tuesday. Standing in line outside the court, she said she was concerned about everything, including whether others in the line would reach their hearings on time. “I see this long line of people and they might not make it on time to their hearings,” she said. “That scares me.”
Billie Botch, a court observer with the American Friends Service Committee — a social justice organization founded by the Quakers — told NPR the new scheduling is causing operational issues, with people showing up late to court appointments after waiting in line for hours. “You can’t deny the correlation,” Botch said. “You put more people into proceedings on shorter notice with less resources to go around to argue their case. You’re going to end up with more removal orders.”