Federal officials are warning of a looming new immigration crisis that could more than double the backlog of asylum cases to over 600,000.
According to the just released ombudsman’s report from the Citizenship and Immigration Services agency, some of the 328,000 immigrants from four countries that are losing their temporary protected are expected to consider seeking asylum.
The biggest in the group are El Salvadorans, some 263,000 strong, who will lose their status next year and be forced to go home or seek other ways to stay in the United States. The status was granted 17 years ago because of an earthquake.
Others losing TPS include Haiti, Sudan and Nicaragua.
According to the report, adding so many to the asylum roles will double the current backlog of cases which is at 318,624.
“One potential challenge for reducing the affirmative asylum backlog is the possibility of a new wave of asylum claims from individuals currently holding TPS,” warned the report. “The Asylum Division may face more challenges if some portion of this population becomes part of the pending affirmative asylum caseload,” it added.
The asylum process is already at a crisis state with its huge backlog. It can take many months for a case to move through the system and critics charge that it allows illegal immigrants seeking the status to simply disappear into interior America.
However, the report noted that some cases deal with immigrants to entered the U.S. 10 years ago.
There has been a surge in requests for asylum, considered an easy way into the U.S. Asylum claims from Central American immigrants have soared over 800 percent in just the past six years, with most granted a free pass into the country despite court statistics that only 5 percent eventually are granted asylum, according to Justice and United Nations data.
