The immigration court backlog in the nation grew significantly in 2023, reaching over 3 million cases in November from 1.9 million cases in September 2022, according to a report by Lauren Villagran for USA Today. This backlog now exceeds the population of Chicago, the third-largest city in the U.S., with judges handling caseloads of over 4,000 each. Despite an increase in the number of immigration judges from 517 in 2020 to 734 in October, the courts have struggled to keep up with the influx of cases.
To address the backlog, the Biden administration has hired 302 immigration judges and is seeking funding in its 2024 budget request to hire an additional 150 judges. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported nearly 2.5 million migrant encounters at the Southwest border in fiscal 2023, setting annual records dating back to 1960. The first two months of fiscal 2024 saw over 483,000 migrant encounters, amid historically high levels of mass migration in the Western Hemisphere. Research from Syracuse University’s Transaction Records Access Clearinghouse shows that immigration judges have granted asylum or other relief in 13 percent of cases over the past 25 years.
