Summary
U.S. immigration courts have a backlog of nearly 3.7 million cases, causing long wait times for immigrants and asylum seekers. President Trump's administration has reduced the number of immigration judges, while USCIS faces record high pending applications. Six states, including Florida and Texas, hold a large portion of these unresolved cases.
Key Facts
- The U.S. has around 3,687,750 active cases in immigration courts.
- Nearly 1,961,655 of these are asylum applications.
- The average wait for a case decision is about 636 days.
- Florida, Texas, California, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois have the largest backlogs.
- Miami’s immigration court has a backlog of 311,291 cases.
- The number of immigration judges decreased from about 700 early in the year to less than 600.
- The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has a record 11.3 million pending applications.
- Recent legislative efforts seek to change who can be appointed as temporary judges.
