This is an important clarification. Here's why.
Encounters include apprehensions AND expulsions.
These are generally
1. people temporarily in CBP custody, and given a court date for their asylum claim to be adjudicated (apprehensions)
AND
2. people who were denied entry and returned to either their home country or last country of transit (expulsions)
If someone shows up and is removed today and returns tomorrow, that's 2 encounters (explusions). Not 2 separate people. If they're removed and try to or do return illegally they are subject to a permanent ban.
Now let's focus on the apprehensions group. This will include admissible and inadmissible. Admissibles have an existing legal path today to enter. Inadmissibles do not, but can file an asylum claim. If they don't, they'll be removed. Those who do are documented aliens until their case is adjudicated. Many will be eligible to work temporarily. It could take 180 day or up to 7 years for these folks to be processed. If the asylum claim is denied, a removal order will be issued.
This link is helpful, but not gospel.
https://usafacts.org/articles/what-c...d-immigration/
This one on border recidivism is also interesting
https://usafacts.org/articles/border...der-crossings/
Now, Asylum claims.
Only about 18% of asylum claims today are heard and approved.
Why?
A similar percentage of asylum claims are heard and denied?
Wait, how? Those two numbers don't total anything close to 100%.
Those remaining cases fall into other buckets. 1 is that the asylum applicant has one or more other legal irons in the fire and the case is left unadjudicated while those other processes play out. One of those may be a Temporary Protected Status program enacted by the executive branch.
2. Are folks withdrew their cases formally. Most of these folks either found a different legal path, returned home or went elsewhere
3. Are those who didn't appear at their court date. This includes those who didn't formally withdraw but left. Those who were already deported/removed. And those who disappeared into the ether. This group is small. Removal orders will be in effect.
None of this speaks to refugees, who apply abroad.
Asylum claims occur at the border and is a legal means of immigrating, even if the initial entry was illegal.
And if you're still reading, there were only about 1.1 million asylum cases pending with the courts as of April 2024, and an additional 1.1 million pending with USCIS. If rejected by USCIS, most of those cases with be added to the immigration court docket. These are total cases. Not annual. Good perspective.
The apprehension rates are estimated about 75% under Trump and Biden.
There are just shy of 700 immigration judges today who are closing about 975 cases each per year. Backlogs under Trump increased by about 2.5x.
ACLU files lawsuit against Trump Admin over asylum
