Massachusetts immigration courts seeing record number of deportations

Federal immigration authorities are on pace to file a record number of deportation cases this year in Massachusetts.

The statistics, released by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, come as thousands of migrants face an uncertain future in the Commonwealth.

The US Department of Homeland Security filed more than 44,000 new deportation cases in Massachusetts immigration courts through the first nine months of the 2024 federal fiscal year.

Data from the immigration research center shows the number of filings could reach almost 59,000 by the end of the fiscal year, which concludes on September 30th.

That compares to more than 54,000 cases last federal fiscal year - the largest number of new filings in Massachusetts since 2001.

The record number of deportation cases in Massachusetts echoes a nationwide trend in deportation cases.

According to the data, US immigration courts saw a more than 300 percent increase from fiscal year 2018 to fiscal year 2023.

“The US government has decided to place everyone who crosses the border in deportation proceeding. That’s a choice. We don’t have to do that,” said Sarah Sherman-Stokes with the Immigrants’ Rights & Human Trafficking Program at BU School of Law.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants have entered the United States through parole programs with federal authorization that’s only temporary and may still have to face a deportation case down on the line.

“Many of the migrants in Massachusetts are claiming protection. They’re claiming asylum and related forms of relief because they’re not safe in their home countries,” explained Sherman-Stokes.

Sherman-Stokes said the backlog of more than 150,000 cases congesting Massachusetts immigration courts is telling of the drawn out uncertainty that many migrants are facing.

“I’m not surprised that cases are going up in Massachusetts. Just because we enact policies intended to deter migrants, doesn’t mean that they’re going to stop coming,” she added.

An influx of incoming migrants stretched the Massachusetts shelter system beyond its limits in recent years.

The eviction of dozens of migrant families from the state’s temporary respite centers was slated to begin last Friday after the state’s new five-day limit took effect.

The state issued 57 eviction notices to families staying at overflow shelters in Chelsea, Norfolk, Cambridge, and Lexington.

A state spokesperson told Boston 25 News that only 11 of those families left those shelters by the deadline.

“11 families will have exited TRCs by the end of day today to either alternative accommodations, to placement in longer-term Emergency Assistance (EA) shelters, or they have been re-ticketed,” said a statement. “The remaining families have received either one-time extensions, medical extensions, or extensions due to pending enrollment into HomeBASE diversion benefit.”

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