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Immigration Court Observers Document Eroding Access to Asylum

Access to a fair day in court is foundational to our notion of justice in the United States. But unfettered immigration enforcement has turned that notion of justice on its head for people fleeing persecution or facing deportation.

Immigration Court Observation Project volunteers are documenting violations every day, including vanishing access to a fair day in court.

Among countless immigration policy changes, the move to strip asylum seekers of a chance to make their case before an immigration judge has been devastating. In late spring, people who had properly filed their applications for asylum with the Immigration Court appeared for their hearings only to have their cases dismissed, their asylum applications tossed aside, and their lives turned upside down as they were detained by ICE.

Observers quickly documented how these new policies have pushed people out of immigration courts into coercive detention and have stoked fear to make people abandon their legitimate claims.

Observers report family members left bewildered and sobbing as their loved ones are handcuffed and led away. They also report increasing no-show rates—and removal orders issued in absentia.

One reason for the chaos: the One Big Beautiful Bill Act pumped an additional $45 billion into the ICE detention budget while simultaneously capping the number of immigration judges at 800.

“It’s clear the purpose is to break the immigration courts,” says Lindsey Greising, Policy Counsel for The Advocates for Human Rights. “It not only undermines our values, it has incredibly dangerous consequences for the people affected.”

By documenting these policies and their impact, The Advocates’ observers are exposing the true cost of out-of-control immigration enforcement in the news media and to Congress.