(ATLANTA) A surge of immigrants missing mandatory hearings is reshaping the work of immigration courts from Atlanta to Los Angeles, with federal data showing more than 50,000 in absentia removal orders in fiscal year 2025, nearly triple the previous year’s total. Those orders are issued when a judge removes a person after they fail to appear, a result many lawyers describe as both preventable and hard to unwind. The jump comes as the national court system carries a giant backlog and as some immigrants say they fear being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, when they show up.
Causes and lawyer perspectives
Immigration attorney Ruby Powers, who practices in Texas and follows national court trends, said the rise in “no-shows” has tracked growing anxiety about arrests around courthouses, a tactic she linked to efforts to meet deportation targets during the Trump administration. “They’re making the best decisions… with the information they have,” Powers said of immigrants weighing whether to risk an appearance.
Even when judges order removal in a person’s absence, families often keep trying to reopen cases later — after they find a lawyer, learn the hearing date was changed, or discover they never got the notice sent to them.
Nationwide data and EOIR information
Data from the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which runs the Justice Department’s immigration courts, shows the spike spreading across the country. From January through November 2025, every one of the 10 busiest court cities was on track for a higher in absentia rate than in prior periods, including Atlanta. Those figures were cited in recent reporting and echoed by analysis on VisaVerge.com.
EOIR’s public information on its mission and court system is available through the agency’s site at the Executive Office for Immigration Review. However, EOIR has not released a city-by-city tally for Atlanta in 2025 yet.
Atlanta’s historical context
Atlanta’s courts have long been an outlier on missed hearings, particularly for people not held in detention. A Government Accountability Office review of EOIR data found that for fiscal years 2016 through 2023, Atlanta’s no-show rates for initial case completions in non-detained cases ran 52% and 56%, among the highest in the nation. The national average for those initial completions was 34%, the GAO said.
The GAO report pointed to factors such as the size of a court’s jurisdiction and transportation barriers, while noting that gaps still show up even between similar places. In Georgia, distance to court can be brutal.
Detention vs. non-detention dynamics
One reason in absentia orders remain rare in detained dockets is simple: people in custody are brought to court, so the no-show rate is close to zero. But detention is the exception.
Key figures:
– Of 33,769 new cases in July 2025, only 30% involved people in detention.
– 70% were for respondents released and expected to attend from home.
In practice, that means most hearing notices still have to reach people who may:
– move frequently,
– work long hours,
– rely on patchy mail service,
– or fear losing pay if they miss work to attend a hearing.
Proactively verify your hearing notices: keep a current address on file, set calendar reminders, and secure legal counsel who can help you track date changes and request rescheduling if needed.
The role of legal representation
Lawyers significantly influence attendance rates. In cases closed in the past year:
– immigrants who had attorneys showed a 97% appearance rate,
– while absenteeism was far higher among those without counsel.
Yet legal help is missing for many: 59% of closed cases lacked lawyers, the reporting found.
A missed hearing can trigger a rapid chain of events:
1. a final removal order is issued,
2. fewer options remain to ask a judge to reopen the case,
3. or to seek other relief before ICE comes looking.
Policy and due process concerns
Andrew Arthur, a resident law and policy fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, argued the surge in no-shows is not just a paperwork problem. He said in absentia orders create a larger group of people who can be removed without a full hearing on the merits.
Arthur described skipping court as rejecting due process and noted that final removal orders are cases ICE must place into higher priority for custody under federal law. To him, the rising totals point to a system that is losing its grip on compliance as more people are released into communities nationwide.
The rising in absentia orders enlarge the set of people who may be removed without full hearings and trigger higher priority custody under federal law.
Backlog and logistical challenges
The rise in in absentia removals is unfolding against an overloaded docket. Court records put the backlog at 3.4 million pending cases at the end of July 2025, down 8% from a year earlier, with 620,000 new cases added over the prior 12 months.
Even that slight drop still leaves judges scheduling hearings months or years out, which increases the odds that:
– a notice goes to an old address,
– a person forgets a date after moving for work.
In Atlanta, where many hearings draw respondents from across Georgia and beyond, distance compounds delay and raises missed-appearance risk.
Human behavior, fear, and appearances
While the new national count suggests a sharp break, attorneys say most people still do appear. Many attend hearings because they hope to win asylum or another form of protection, and because failing to show can bring fast consequences. Still, the fear factor remains.
Powers and other lawyers have tied the recent wave to stories of ICE arrests near or inside courthouses, saying the possibility of being taken into custody at the door can outweigh a distant chance of relief.
EOIR and TRAC summaries through August 2025 did not list Atlanta no-show counts, leaving local advocates to rely on the broader trend.
Impact on individuals in Atlanta
For immigrants in Atlanta’s immigration courts, an in absentia order can turn a pending case into an emergency. Once a judge orders removal:
– the person may face detention during routine check-ins,
– they may discover the order when applying for work authorization tied to a pending case.
Motions to reopen can be filed, but they:
– require proof,
– often require a lawyer,
– and people can miss tight deadlines if they never saw the notice.
The source material does not name a respondent who missed court, but advocates say the pattern shows how fear, delays, and lack of counsel can combine into a “no-show.”
National immigration courts report a record surge in in absentia removal orders for 2025, reaching 50,000 cases. Atlanta remains a focal point with historically high absenteeism. Experts attribute the trend to fear of ICE arrests, lack of legal counsel, and logistical hurdles. While legal representation ensures nearly universal attendance, over half of respondents navigate the system alone, leading to expedited deportation orders and debated due process concerns.
