According to the New York Post, the New York City Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office is fully booked until October 2032. The bookings are for appointments to process the migrants.
According to The New York Times, New York has traditionally been a favorite destination for refugees seeking asylum. One of the most serious challenges encountered by immigration officers is that many of the asylum petitions are fraudulent.
Now that there is an official 10-year backlog, migrants will have to wait a decade to begin the immigration court proceedings. And that’s not all; there could be another delay, lengthening the wait even further.
Normally, New York has a three to a five-year backlog in immigration proceedings, but due to the surge of migrants, the procedure has become considerably longer, even for individuals with genuine claims.
According to a document reviewed by The New York Post, the New York ICE may be one of the most backlogged locations in the country, with over 39,000 non-citizen appointments scheduled at the office.
According to News Nation, migrants can seek processing from an office near where they intend to dwell.
Currently, the New York office is not the only one experiencing delays. Other ICE centers are also experiencing lengthy processing delays.
According to an immigration official, because there are only so many courts and judges, there simply aren’t enough resources to process everyone on time.