Tens of thousands of illegal alien minors who crossed the border in the last two years have still not had their cases adjudicated by immigration courts and are still in the United States, attending school and receiving other benefits.

Nearly 40% of the illegals have not shown up for their court dates so far.

Washington Times:

Most of the surge of children caught jumping the U.S.-Mexico border illegally over the past two years haven’t even had their cases decided by the immigration courts, leaving them in a legal limbo as states and counties struggle to assimilate them into schools and health care systems, according to a report released Thursday.

Some children caught more than two years ago are still waiting for final court dates. Of those whose cases were decided, nearly half of them didn’t show up, meaning they were ordered deported in-absentia, the Migration Policy Institute said in its review of Homeland Security data.

The Obama administration vowed to speed the children through courts to try to stop the surge, but the report concludes that cases continue to languish, with nearly 1,000 children caught as far back as 2011 still awaiting a final decision from an immigration judge.

Of those caught last year, when the summer surge was at its heaviest, less than 40 percent have gone through the courts. Most of those completed cases were because the illegal immigrant children never bothered to show up and were ordered kicked out of the country.

Illegal immigrant children with attorneys were more likely to win their cases, earning a pass to stay in the U.S. But even most of those involve a judge simply looking the other way and leaving them in the country illegally rather than granting them full legal status under asylum or a victim’s visa, the report found.

More troubling is that outcomes depend on the states where cases are heard.

Schools are feeling the most effects of the surge, as more than 75,000 illegal immigrant children were released to sponsors — usually relatives, but sometimes foster families — from Oct. 1, 2013, through Aug. 31 this year.

“The child migrants have an array of particular needs, and school districts have had to balance addressing these needs along with those of other students, within resource limitations,” the report said.

The federal government paid about $233 in special costs for those students last year, but that is just a fraction of the total for students who usually arrive with the need for intense educational help.

The problems are particularly tougher for teens who have arrived, often well behind their U.S.-born peers.

The question should be raised that if this is the best policy we can come up with, why bother?  The president never intended to apply the resources necessary to deport these kids.  He would have been forced to hire hundreds of new judges and prosecutors and create additional immigration courts to handle the crush.  Of course, he never did and never intended to.

The outcry in the Hispanic community would have been severe if we had, but why let public opinion interfere with law enforcement?  The fact is, the kids keep coming, keep putting a strain on local resources to care for them, and won't stop coming until we can demonstrate that they simply can't stay.