The current immigration court backlog in the United States, where judges determine whether migrants can stay in the country or face deportation, has now exceeded 3.5 million cases under President Joe Biden. According to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, there has been a significant increase in the number of pending immigration cases as the Department of Homeland Security releases tens of thousands of migrants into the U.S. interior on a regular basis.
TRAC reported that as of March 2024, there were 3,524,051 active cases pending before the Immigration Court. This marks a substantial growth from last year when the backlog had already surpassed three million cases. The backlog has been steadily increasing, with half a million deportation cases added in just four months to reach the current total.
Under President Trump, the immigration court backlog was fewer than 570,000 cases when he took office in 2017. By the time he left office in 2021, it had increased by about 500,000 cases. Since President Biden took office, the backlog has almost tripled.
Furthermore, analysis from the Center for Immigration Studies indicates that the number of migrants failing to appear in immigration court for deportation proceedings is on the rise. The Biden administration’s lack of action on removal orders may be contributing to this trend. Despite this, federal data has consistently shown that migrants are more likely to be ordered deported from the U.S. than to be granted asylum to remain in the country.
