As of April 2024, immigration backlog cases are over 3.5 million, including 1.3 million asylum matters. According to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), only 14% of immigrants issued deportation notices had legal representation. The April 2024 immigration backlog was 2.8 million cases in the previous fiscal year.

In previous periods, asylum cases accounted for less than 10% of the total. The current asylum backlog comprises 37% of the total. In fiscal year 2024 alone, 1.3 million new cases were added to court dockets. In the same time frame, immigration judges completed roughly 500,000 cases. Of those completed matters, 35% received voluntary departure orders or removal orders. Looking forward, immigration judges are on track to collectively complete more cases than previous years by the end of this year.

Miami-Dade County has the highest number of pending deportation cases. The state of Colorado saw the highest proportion of removal orders. The lowest number of cases completed in April was in Vermont, per TRAC.

The recent proposed rule from the Biden administration moving asylum determination earlier in the process may impact future immigration backlog numbers. However, at this stage, the new rule is solely proposed and in the public comment period. As previously noted, the proposed rule will not likely have a big impact on the overall number of asylum cases that enter the immigration courts.

As always, ILBSG continues to actively monitor ongoing U.S. immigration trends. If you have questions about any employment-based or family-based immigration issue, contact us. We work with our clients to ensure they get the right advice for their particular situation.

U.S. immigration backlog