Asylum seekers in Los Angeles avoid hearings for fear of deportation.
Key Takeaways
- Report: 56% of asylum seekers in Los Angeles County did not attend recent immigration court hearings.
- Nationally, about 1 in 5 asylum applicants missed hearings in January, according to Univision.
- Advocates cite intensified ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) operations and arrests near court-related appointments as key drivers of fear.
- Asylum approvals reportedly fell below 3% in January, down from 18% in January 2025.
- Skipping court can trigger an in absentia removal order and long bars to future immigration relief.
What’s happening in Los Angeles
Community groups and immigration lawyers in Los Angeles County say fear is keeping many asylum seekers away from immigration court, where they worry they could be arrested and deported. The report notes that approximately 56% of asylum applicants in the county failed to appear for scheduled hearings before the immigration courts, which are part of EOIR (Executive Office for Immigration Review) under the U.S. Department of Justice, not USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services). Nationally, about one in five asylum seekers missed a hearing in January, according to Univision. It has been reported that intensified ICE operations in Los Angeles and Southern California have included arrests of immigrants attending appointments related to their cases, further fueling no-shows.
Why skipping court is risky
Missing an immigration court hearing can lead to an in absentia removal order under INA §240(b)(5). That order can be very hard to undo and, under INA §240(b)(7), can make a person ineligible for several types of relief—such as cancellation of removal, adjustment of status, and voluntary departure—for 10 years if proper notice was given. While the law allows some motions to reopen—within 180 days for “exceptional circumstances,” or any time if there was no proper notice—those are narrow, fact-intensive avenues. For people currently in proceedings, the stakes are high: show up, seek legal counsel, and keep addresses updated with EOIR to avoid missed notices.
The bigger picture
Approvals of asylum applications reportedly dropped below 3% in January, a sharp decline from 18% in January 2025, reinforcing perceptions among migrants that winning protection is increasingly unlikely. At the same time, it has been reported that more than 11 million immigration cases are pending in the nation’s immigration courts, compounding delays and confusion for applicants. In response, Los Angeles community organizations are ramping up “know your rights” education and emergency planning to help families prepare for possible detentions and deportations. For asylum seekers, the combination of fear, low grant rates, and prolonged backlogs means every missed court date can close doors that are already narrowing.
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