Charlotte Immigration Court Struggles with Massive Backlog

0:00It's March 30th. This is Durham News today, AI-powered stories from your city. Charlotte's Immigration Court ramped up removals last year, ordering more people out of the country than before. Voluntary Departures spiked two, jumping from 167 in fiscal year 2024 to 799. But that barely touched the massive case backlog sitting there. This small court on Executive Center Drive pulls cases from both North Carolina and South Carolina. Even before a surge in immigration and customs enforcement actions and a big border patrol push in the area, it was already overloaded with over 1. 100,000 pending matters. The backlog creates real strain, ranking Charlotte 9th worst in the nation, bigger than Tennessee or Virginia, but trailing giants like Florida, Texas and California. Judges here answer to the Justice Department under the Executive Branch, which adds its own layer of pressure. Recent data shows a slight dip, peak of 145,000 cases in fiscal year 2024,

1:03down to 132, 1025, and now around 126,000. I see arrests in Charlotte and North Carolina exploded after President Trump came back, with many folks shipped to a court in Georgia instead. All this points to a system grinding under the weight, where small wins on removals can keep up with the flood of new cases pouring in.