This new effort could significantly reduce the backlog of asylum and deportation cases as the Joe Biden administration anticipates a large surge of immigrants crossing the border.
The call to remove the cases from the docket is expected to draw criticism from conservatives as a form of amnesty.
Along with proposing the end of the Title 42 policy, which allows the expedited expulsion of immigrants who arrive at the border, now the Government of Joe Biden sent a memorandum to the prosecutors of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) where it authorizes them to dismiss cases brought against undocumented immigrants who have been in the country for a considerable amount of time and do not or have not posed a threat to public and national safety.
Such a plan could significantly reduce the backlog of asylum and deportation cases, as the Biden administration anticipates a large wave of immigrants crossing the border, and at the same time alleviate the collapse of the immigration courts, which accumulate 1,700,000 pending files, which that lengthens the wait for immigrants for years.
In the memorandum, according to The New York Times, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service ordered its lawyers to review the cases and try to clarify those considered low priority according to the compliance guidelines that the administration established last year. The American Immigration Lawyers Association has estimated that there are at around 500,000 to a million cases.
If it moves forward, it will translate into encouraging news for dozens of migrants, who saw their cases completely stopped amid the collapse in the courts, mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic, which limited and delayed the proceedings.