Detained undocumented immigrants could be waiting years before their next immigration hearing due to a backlog in hearings, according to one attorney. Mekahlo Medina reports for the NBC4 News at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.
Jonathan Tejeda-Perez’s first court hearing in front of an immigration judge lasted less than five minutes, but it was another example of the backlog of immigration cases crippling the immigration system as President Donald Trump’s new policies add thousands of new cases to the dockets.
“There is a backlog of 4 million cases,” said Alma Rosa Nieto, an immigration attorney from Los Angeles. “It (cases) can take anywhere from one to two, up to five years.”
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WATCH HERETejada-Perez was arrested by immigration officers outside his home in El Monte on Feb. 24. Agents targeted him because of his drug paraphernalia and mail theft convictions from 2012-2017. He did not have deportation orders.
Tejada-Perez undocumented mother, Yolanda, was arrested at the same time as a collateral arrest. She had a shoplifting charge from 20 years ago. In her case, a judge granted bail within days of her arrest in part because she was the primary caretaker of her sick daughter, who is fighting bone cancer.
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Tejada-Perez had long been the primary financial support for his family and hoped that might give him an argument to be released sooner than later.
Nieto said detained undocumented immigrants could expect to be behind bars at detention centers for months if they don’t have deportation orders. It could potentially be longer because all ICE detention centers are packed.
NBC News reported on March 12 that the Department of Homeland Security said centers were at capacity, housing about 47,600 individuals.
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At High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto, where Tejada-Perez is housed, capacity is at 1,940 inmates. The facility has not responded to our request about how many inmates are currently housed.
“If you have detention centers at full capacity, many will be going to see a judge, adding to the 4 million that are waiting already,” said Nieto.
Tejada-Perez plans to marry his 28-year-old fiancée Christian Jimenez while in detention with hope that it might help his case, showing the judge his bonds to this country.
“He has been there for a month,” said Jimenez, who said they communicate every day via phone, but he is anxious to see him in person soon. “I think the longer it goes, the more stressful it is. We don’t know what’s going on. Why do they have him in there for so long.”
“(It can be) very frustrating and painful because people are on edge waiting and waiting and waiting not knowing how long if it’s going to be -- a year or four years,” said Nieto.
