U.S. immigration courts have hit a new crisis point, with nearly half of illegal immigrants roaming in the country failing to show up for legal hearings, resulting in a massive number of deportation orders, according to an analysis of court records.

The court system said that in 2017, 43 percent of aliens freed pending hearings disappeared into the country and never showed up for scheduled follow-up hearings. In pure numbers, that means 41,302 aliens out of 95,342 never showed up for their court hearings.

Among those under 18 allowed into the country, 49 percent failed to show up.

It has been worse, with court skipouts reaching 59 percent in 2005 and 2006.

“From 1996 through 2017, 37 percent of all aliens free pending trial disappeared. From the 2,680,598 foreign nationals that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released on their own recognizance, 1,320,000, received deportation orders, 75 percent of them (993,593) for failure to appear. Only 25 percent of this group — some 324,402 people altogether — actually tried their cases,” said the analysis titled "Skipping Court" from the Center for Immigration Studies.

Failing to show up for court hearings is now the number one reason for deportation orders, according to the CIS analysis.

Writing for the Center, former immigration judge and Justice officials Mark H. Metcalf reviewed the court numbers and made these key points:



43 percent of all aliens free pending trial failed to appear for court in 2017.

Since 1996, 37 percent of all aliens free before trial disappeared from court.

Aliens abscond from court more often today than they did before 9/11.

Deportation orders for failing to appear in court exceed deportation orders from cases that were tried by 306 percent.

46 percent of all unaccompanied children disappeared from U.S. immigration courts from 2013 through 2017.

49 percent of unaccompanied children failed to appear in U.S. immigration courts in 2017.

Metcalf said, “In any other court system, such dysfunction would cry for redress. Only in U.S. immigration courts can litigants literally abandon their cases without fear of incarceration or removal.”

He added, “Rarely, if at all, are aliens held accountable for the same misconduct that in other court systems would land them — or citizens — in jail and in some instances brand them felons.”