Biden administration aims to expedite migrant asylum claims from years to months

The Biden administration on Thursday announced a new process to adjudicate immigration cases for those who recently entered the U.S. without authorization.

The move comes as President Joe Biden faces election-year pressure to control an unprecedented level of migration that polls show is a top issue for voters.

"Today, we are instituting with the Department of Justice a process to accelerate asylum proceedings so that individuals who do not qualify for relief can be removed more quickly and those who do qualify can achieve protection sooner," Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. "This administrative step is no substitute for the sweeping and much-needed changes that the bipartisan Senate bill would deliver, but in the absence of Congressional action we will do what we can to most effectively enforce the law and discourage irregular migration."

The docket will include individuals who are released from custody with notices to report to court in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City, the officials said. Judges will then aim to complete the cases within 180 days. Many immigration cases can currently take multiple years before a judge orders deportation.

The immigration court system under the Department of Justice Executive Office of Immigration Review currently has a backlog of more than 3.5 million cases, according to researchers at Syracuse University.

Biden administration officials continue to urge Congress to reform the system more broadly, suggesting the announcement Thursday is more of a patch to the broader issue of soaring court backlogs. The officials Thursday could not say how many individuals would be placed on the new docket and questions remain about how much of a difference a new docket could make without more resources and judges to staff the courts.

"The Justice Department's immigration courts are committed to the just and efficient enforcement of the immigration laws," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. "These measures will advance that mission by helping to ensure that immigration cases are adjudicated promptly and fairly."

The administration continues to rely on a variety of measures to ensure hopeful immigrants comply with a timely adjudication process, including GPS monitoring and reporting requirements. One official said they hope these measures will allow the new docket to succeed in cutting down the backlog.

Another official said they have identified judges in the five cities with the capacity to hear cases on the expedited 180-day timeline.

"We're always … eager to receive additional resources. So, additional immigration judges, additional other resources certainly would help," one official said. "But we structured this docket in a way that it -- using our existing resources, which is what's been allocated to us at this time -- we make use of what we've got.