Most Released Families Attend Immigration Court Hearings

Contrary to claims made by the Department of Homeland Security, six out of every seven asylum-seeking families in the United States appear for their initial court dates. This analysis of records on court attendance from the Executive Office for Immigration Review finds that appearance rates for families with legal representation rose to 99.9 percent, while the rates of appearance for unrepresented families was at 81.6 percent. The study notes that attorneys, who must keep track of when and where their clients’ hearings will be held, are usually able to communicate details directly to their clients thus ensuring a much greater chance of appearing in court. To the extent that the court system operates in a monolingual environment, court appearance rates will be negatively affected.  Additionally, families who are released after being apprehended at the border may not know where they will be residing after their release and so may not receive notifications of court appearances, and those returned to their home countries to await hearings may similarly have no reliable means of notification. The study finds that the presence of legal representation is the key factor in maintaining high court attendance rates among asylum-seeking families. (Samantha Jones for The Immigrant Learning Center’s Public Education Institute)

View online.