In my office, we've recently been receiving motions from DHS (the prosecutor in Immigration Court) asking to reopen administratively closed cases and place them on the court's active docket. Some of these cases were closed more than 15 years ago, and they belong to lawyers who have long ago left my office. How we will even find some of these clients to let them know, I am not sure.

As it turns out, we are not alone. Although there has been no official announcement from DHS, it seems that the agency wants to re-calendar all closed cases, which represents almost 400,000 non-citizens. Added to the current Immigration Court backlog, which stands at about 3.5 million, this new push to re-calendar cases will further overwhelm an already overloaded system.

Here, we will discuss what is happening, what to do if you currently have an administratively closed case, and how this new development might affect the Immigration Courts more generally.

As you may have heard, the Trump Administration wants to deport more people. Rather than focus on removing people who are already in Immigration Court, some genius has made the decision to re-calendar closed cases and add those individuals to the existing docket.

What are these closed cases? Over the years, DHS has changed its priorities--who it wants to deport. During some periods, DHS has been willing--even eager--to administratively close cases that were not a priority for removal. DHS would almost never close a case where the person has a criminal record, since such people have always been a priority for removal, and so most of the people with closed cases are not criminals. Also, many of these people have health issues or U.S.-citizen or Green Card family members that made DHS more willing to close their cases. When a case was closed, the person was allowed to remain in the U.S., often with a work permit.

Now, DHS is re-calendaring these old cases (i.e., putting them back on the court's schedule). Why this is happening, DHS has not explained. Given that many of these people do not have a strong possibility of receiving permanent status in the U.S., DHS may view them as "low hanging fruit," in the sense that the agency can "win" most of these cases and deport these individuals. Of course, these cases tend to be very sympathetic, which is why they were closed in the first place. And so while this new effort may increase DHS's numbers, it will likely harm many vulnerable non-citizens and their families.

What if your case is currently administratively closed?

First, it is very important to know whether your case has been re-calendared. If your case is scheduled and you fail to appear, the judge may order you deported.

DHS is notifying lawyers, and if your lawyer receives a motion to reopen, she should inform you, so be sure your lawyer (or former lawyer) has your contact information. If you never had a lawyer, I presume DHS will send you a notice directly, but I really do not know. Unless DHS has your current address, they cannot notify you. If you have an administratively closed case, you are required to keep the court and DHS updated about your address, and you can do that using form EOIR-33.

In addition, it is a good idea to check the Immigration Court website every few weeks to see whether your case has been scheduled for a hearing.

Second, if DHS files a motion to re-calendar (a motion is a formal request asking the court to do something), you can oppose the motion. In other words, if DHS tries to re-open your case, you can ask the judge to deny the motion and keep your case closed. This can be tricky, and so if DHS is attempting to re-calendar your case, it would be a good idea to find an attorney to assist you in opposing the motion, and determining whether you have any defenses to being deported.

If your case is reopened, you will need to appear in Immigration Court and present any defenses you have. If you have no bases to remain in the United States, the judge will likely order you deported. Talk to a lawyer for help, as court cases are much more difficult to win without an attorney. If you cannot afford legal counsel, there are free services available, though unfortunately, resources are quite limited.

Finally, how might this push to re-calendar 400,000 cases affect the overall Immigration Court system? I imagine you won't be surprised to learn that adding cases to an already backlogged system will create even more delay. This delay could take several forms. For one, DHS attorneys must now devote time to identifying administratively closed cases and filing motions. Judges must spend time ruling on such motions. For cases that are re-calendared, everyone will have to spend time litigating those cases. I expect the overall effect will be more delay for everyone.

Returning hundreds of thousands of cases to the active docket seems counter to the Trump Administration's stated goal of quickly deporting criminal aliens: If everyone is a priority for removal, then no one is a priority for removal.

We will see how this plays out, but I expect many vulnerable people will be harmed, courts and DHS attorneys (and private attorneys) will be further overwhelmed, and an inefficient system will be made even more inefficient.

Originally posted on the Asylumist: www.Asylumist.com