Austin Kocher, a faculty fellow at TRAC, said that “unfortunately, DHS’s process for hearing these remaining cases relies on a virtual registration process that may actually exclude precisely those asylum-seekers who don’t have access to technology and who are the most in need of protection.”

“Although some people with pending cases may have given up after waiting for their hearing or due to violence in northern Mexico,” Kocher added, “it remains a legal and moral imperative that the U.S. government abide by national and international refugee law and provide these individuals with an opportunity to request asylum.”