A 61-year-old man from the Dominican Republic has been waiting for his day in federal immigration court since the 1980s, unable to visit his dying mother back home or, in recent years, legally hold a job. His trial was finally to come next week.

But because of the federal government shutdown, he stands to lose his precious court date.

In the backlogged immigration courts, that is likely to mean not just a few more weeks of waiting, but a few more years. Migrants like this man — who asked to be identified only by his first name, Jose, for fear of repercussions in court — are being sent to the back of the line, with their new court dates coming as late as 2022.

From furloughs at the Justice Department to confusion in the courts, to prison officers working without a paycheck, the shutdown has challenged the nation’s courts and criminal justice system and those whose livelihoods depend on them, slowing some cases while throwing others into disarray.

[Read more: On Friday, President Trump threatened to keep the government shut down for “months or even years."]