Information obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, found that more than 7,000 cases of undocumented migrant cases were simply “thrown out.” TRAC research center, which obtained the documents, reports

Specifically, the documents show numbers of a Notice to Appear (NTA) went from less than 1,000 incidents of no NTAs being filed in February and March of 2021 to over 5,000 a month in late 2021 and 2022. In April 2022, more than 7,000 cases were thrown out; imagine what the numbers will be since April.

A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital that those who are released from custody are under strict requirements to report in regularly.

“If a Notice to Appear (NTA) is unavailable, insufficient, or in need of correction at the time of the immigration court hearing, it is a regular practice to correct the deficiency and resubmit, or issue a new NTA so that cases may resume and migrants can continue with their obligation to appear before an immigration court at a later date,” they said.

DHS said that it has matched an “unprecedented challenge” with “unprecedented border security solutions” — including 23,000 more staff, greater investments and anti-smuggling efforts.

“The research center says that the amount of cases being thrown out is not only wasteful of the court’s time, but also problematic for the immigrants involved — who may turn up for a court date only to have the case dismissed, and be left in limbo as to their status and what to do next” writes Fox News.

Fox News reports:

Austin Kocher, research assistant professor at TRAC, said that on one hand he empathized with the agency due to the administrative burden it was facing with the increased numbers and increased processing. But he said the issue had arisen by allowing DHS officials to schedule the hearing in court when creating the NTA. That hearing could occur before the NTA has made it into the court system.

“The issue is, if you schedule a hearing three months out, and it takes longer than three months to actually file that NTA on the courts … then that immigrant is going to show up in court, and the judge isn’t going to really have any record of that case. So essentially nothing can happen,” he said.

He said it was not unusual for NTAs to take time to get placed onto court systems, but what is different now is the scale.

“It’s not as if it’s entirely unprecedented, they have had issues in the past,” he said. “It is unusual at the scale that this is happening and the regularity in which it’s happening right now.”