BENNIE G.

THOMPSON, MISSISSIPPI JOHN KATKO, NEW YORK

CHAIRMAN RANKING MEMBER

One Hundred Seventeenth Congress

Committee on Homeland Security
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

October 26, 2022

Acting Director Tae Johnson

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
500 12th St. SW
Washington DC 20024

Commissioner Chris Magnus

U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20229

Dear Acting Director Johnson and Commissioner Magnus,

As you are aware, the United States is experiencing historic levels of illegal migrants crossing
the Southwest border every day. It has come to my attention that Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are unable to effectively
process these migrants, assign them court dates, and commence removal proceedings. Since the
start of the Biden administration, CBP has served almost one million migrants at the Southwest
border with a Notice to Appear (NTA) and hundreds of thousands with either a Notice to Report
(NTR) or parole plus Alternatives to Detention (ATD) paperwork.1 Both an NTR and parole plus
ATD supervision require a migrant to report to an ICE field office when the migrant reaches
their final destination in the United States. An immigration officer at the field office will then
serve the migrant with an NTA. Immigration officers have access to the immigration court’s
scheduling system so they can schedule a hearing date for the NTA, but removal proceedings are
not actually commenced until the NTA is filed with the immigration court.2
The unprecedented influx of illegal migrants at the Southwest border has put an overwhelming
strain on the process to commence removal proceedings. The Transactional Records Access
Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University reviewed immigration court data from fiscal year
(FY) 2022, and found that over 63,500 immigration court cases were stricken from the

1 Custody and Transfer Statistics FY2022, accessed at https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/custody-and-transfer-statistics; Custody and Transfer
Statistics FY2021, accessed at https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/custody-and-transfer-statistics-fy2021
2 See 8 U.S.C. § 1229; 8 C.F.R. § 239.1; 8 C.F.R. § 1239.1.
immigration court docket3 because even though immigration officers scheduled a removal
hearing when issuing the NTA, the NTA was never filed with the immigration court before the
court date.4 Additionally, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report in
September 2022, detailing further complications with both the NTR and the parole plus ATD
processes.5 These issues included family units not reporting to ICE field offices as required and
ICE facing resource constraints processing those who did report. These reports raise alarming
questions about the roles that CBP and ICE play in ensuring no one slips through the cracks of
the United States immigration court system.
In order to fulfill my oversight duties as the Ranking Member of the House Committee on
Homeland Security, I request the answers to the following questions in writing not later than
November 25, 2022.

1. In FY 2022, along the Southwest border, how many migrants were processed with an
NTA? Of those NTAs, how many has ICE had to reissue?

2. In FY 2022, please provide the number of immigration court cases that had to be stricken
from the docket due to no NTA being filed with the court. If a case is stricken from the
docket and the migrant must be served with a new NTA, what is the success rate of
service? Please provide statistics.

3. Where in the process are NTAs being held up most often, preventing the commencement
of removal proceedings?

4. Please provide a copy of the memorandum: Policy on the Use of Parole plus Alternatives
to Detention to Decompress Border Locations (July 18, 2022).

5. According to the GAO, “Specifically, the memorandum states that each agency [CBP and
ICE] will be responsible for completing at least 50 percent of the total workload (such as
initiating removal proceedings) associated with those individuals processed under parole
plus ATD.” This change, according to the report, should help reduce the strain on ICE
personnel and resources.6 Please explain where the additional CBP personnel will come
from who will be responsible for their 50 percent, given CBP staffing shortages? When
will CBP be performing these duties given that the reason CBP has processed under NTR
and continues to process under parole plus ATD is due to overcrowding at Border Patrol
stations.

6. Has ICE taken any actions to find family unit members or single adults who have passed
the required time to check in with an ICE field office and who do not have any address
listed? Please elaborate given the lack of ICE personnel. If an individual does not pose an

3 The TRAC report used the word “dismissed” when discussing the cases; however, the case is not opened until the NTA has been filed.
4 Over 63,000 DHS Cases Thrown Out of Immigration Court This Year Because No NTA Was Filed, accessed at https://trac.syr.edu/reports/699/
5 Southwest Border, Challenges and Efforts Implementing New Processes for Noncitizen Families, accessed at https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-

22-105456.pdf
6 Id.

2
 immediate security threat to the United States, will ICE look for them? Please provide
statistics.

7. As of March 2022, ICE had mailed out about 48,500 NTAs, please provide a breakdown
of the results of this effort.

8. Given the weekly average number of border crossers that are processed under parole plus
ATD, do the ICE field offices have the capacity to provide NTAs for each migrant within
the appointed time? If not, how long is the backlog?

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Natasha
Eby on the House Homeland Security Committee staff at 202-226-8417 should you or your staff
have any questions.

Sincerely,

John Katko
Ranking Member