Immigration court records for June show a system working at record pace: an all-time high of 100,773 case closures, nearly 79,000 removal orders, and less than two percent of cases ending in a grant of relief. I’m encouraged by those numbers — and troubled by the one underneath them: 68 percent of the people ordered removed were not present at their own hearings.

That in-absentia rate is the direct legacy of catch-and-release. People released into the interior years ago never appeared, so judges are issuing removal orders to empty chairs. A removal order is not a removal, and no amount of judicial productivity fixes a system that lets respondents disappear before their hearing.

H.R. 9773, the Permanent Trump Secure Border Act, addresses the root cause. It would require detention rather than release into the interior, so hearings happen with the respondent present and orders can actually be carried out. It would strengthen the credible-fear standard and penalize frivolous claims, keeping meritless cases out of a docket still holding 3.2 million. Please support and pass H.R. 9773 as it moves through committee, so these fixes become permanent law no future administration can undo — and so Americans finally have an immigration system that works for them.

Greg Raven, Apple Valley, CA

Sent to:
Jay Obernolte