NYC ICE ‘mostly booked’ through 2033 for migrants needing court dates

WASHINGTON — New York City’s worst-in-the-nation federal immigration office wait time continues to grow — with appointments for migrants waiting to get a court date after illegally crossing the southern border now “mostly booked” through March 2033.

The latest figure suggests undocumented arrivals may have to wait a full decade to go before a judge — then cool their heels an average of nearly four more years before proceedings are completed.

Tae Johnson, acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), claimed to a congressional panel Tuesday that he was working to tackle the stunning field office backlogs, including by trying to figure out how to use video conferencing to speed up the process.

“There is some request to the Hill to give us the authority [where] we can actually serve it virtually and have people agree to accept their documents electronically,” Johnson told the House Appropriations Committee during a hearing focused on budget requests.

“That is certainly something that we are continuing to work with the Congress to sort of get the authority for,” he added. “But we are working on the technological piece of it so that we can do these telephonic interviews or virtual interviews and have individuals not have to wait 10 years to have their charging documents issued.”

Tae added that ICE also is asking for congressional funding for 45 new agents to process the backlog.

In the meantime, the agency is working to borrow US Customs and Border Protection personnel to alleviate the crunch, as well as trying to get migrants to opt in to receiving their court dates via mail.

The Post exclusively reported last month that the NYC ICE office was “fully booked” through October 2032 as of Feb. 13, according to a non-public official document.

Immigration experts told The Post that the massive backlog makes the Big Apple the ideal place for migrants with dubious asylum claims to settle after being released at the southern border.

Migrants are entitled to work permits while their claims are pending.

Meanwhile, some migrants told The Post that they too were frustrated because they believe they have solid claims and shouldn’t have to remain in limbo for such a long period of time.

On Tuesday, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) read aloud the latest data — which he said was updated on April 7 — at a hearing assessing ICE’s budget as illegal immigration stays at record highs along the southern frontier.

“Top 10 backlog locations: New York number one, mostly booked through March of 2033 — 2033. They got about 32,000-plus there [in line],” Cuellar said — suggesting that the raw number of pending appointments has fallen by about 7,000 over two months, even if they are pushed farther into the future. 

“Let’s take New York. They’ll report up to March of 2033. Then they get a notice to appear, an NTA… and then that’s another two to three years before they can go up to a judge,” the Democrat noted. “It’s a little concerning that some of them have to wait to 2033 just to appear before you and then they have to get another two to three years before they even go to an immigration judge.”

The extra step to get a court date is the result of a Biden administration policy change implemented to cope with a record-breaking surge at the southern border.

Historically, migrants with asylum claims were issued a so-called Notice to Appear (NTA) in immigration court.

But the Biden administration in early 2021 added a new step and issued migrants a Notice to Report (NTR) to the ICE office nearest their final destination to get placed into court proceedings.

The Biden administration released into the US 802,396 non-citizens who were apprehended after illegally crossing the southwest border in the 23-month period from late March 2021 through Feb. 13, according to a Feb. 18 document on ICE letterhead previously reported by The Post.

Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.) on Tuesday fumed about the ICE backlogs, noting that the field office in Jacksonville is booked through 2028, meaning it’s “five years just to be seen.”

The acting ICE director told Rutherford that the average ICE field office backlog is “probably two years,” with some field offices in places like Baltimore and St. Paul, Minn., having even shorter waits because “most of the offices aren’t nearly as inundated.”

A fresh surge of migrants across the border is expected after May 11, when the Biden administration lifts the Title 42 policy that allowed for the rapid expulsion of migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Critics blame the two-year-old border crisis on Biden’s pro-immigration rhetoric and policy changes, such as ending both construction of former President Donald Trump’s border wall as well as the “Remain in Mexico” policy that required asylum applicants to wait south of the border while their cases were adjudicated.

The White House blames the surge on other factors, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and poor economic conditions in developing Western Hemisphere countries.

Already, CBP data indicates a 4% increase in border-crossing encounters in fiscal 2023, despite a new “parole” program intended to slow illegal border-crossings by Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans seeking asylum by allowing them to enter the US at legal points of entry.

Nearly 2.4 million border-crossers were apprehended in fiscal 2022 after more than 1.7 million detentions during fiscal 2021 — which itself reflected a surge during Biden’s first year in office.