Officials Confirm 96 Percent Of Illegal Immigrants Were No-Shows At Hearings

Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants poured across the southern border last spring and summer in search of permisos, or free passes.

Nearly all of the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants that poured across the U.S. border from Central America earlier this year were no-shows at their hearing. The administration said they were released on their own recognizance because there wasn’t enough space to detain them.

However, a Houston television station reported — and, PPD has confirmed — what the administration’s critics and opponents to amnesty said would happen all along.

After six months of requests, the Executive Office of Immigration Review told Houston’s KPRC that 96 percent of the more than 4,100 families released on recognizance and ordered deported did not show up to court, prompting the government to classify them “in absentia.”

A similar 92 percent of the more than 1,600 unaccompanied children to be deported did not show up.

The Executive Office of Immigration Review usually reports an 11 percent to 15 percent annual “in absentia” rate, far below this year’s jump.

Among the thousands who were caught and detained by Border Patrol, the court process remains sluggish. A mere 22 percent of the more than 30,400 families and unaccompanied children caught have received a court decision.

“This was no surprise to any of us,” an official at EOIR told PPD. “Contrary to what others have reported, these numbers are in line with past experiences.”

As previously reported, the new incoming Republican majority has made a border security bill a top priority for the new Congress, particularly on the Southwest border where tens of thousands of illegal immigrants flooded across in search of permisos, or free passes.

Despite threats of a veto from the White House, Republicans are hoping to prevent what the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers called “a predictable, orchestrated and contrived assault on the compassionate side of Americans by her political leaders.”