The largest number of case completions in May resulted in removal orders. These orders also bar the immigrant from applying for lawful entry in the future, possibly permanently. Notably, immigrants were represented in less than 15 percent of these cases. Many of those immigrants who were unrepresented and ordered removed were asylum seekers who never received an actual hearing on their asylum claims.

No asylum hearing is held unless the asylum seeker was able to prepare and file a formal asylum application. Given the complexity of immigration rules and procedures, this typically requires the assistance of a skilled immigration attorney. As of the end of May, less than three out of ten (29%) of all immigrants in the Court’s backlog according to its records had found an attorney.

Immigration judges, in fact, issued decisions on the merits for just 6,659 asylum cases in May. Of these, 51 percent of asylum applicants who were represented by an attorney were granted asylum. An additional 1,017 respondents were granted other forms of relief.

Further details are available in the full report. TRACmeters at the top of the main and immigration home pages now provide the latest figures on such additional measures as the Immigration Court’s current backlog, the number of immigrants ICE has detained, and families and single individuals being monitored through its Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program.

These TRACmeters also allow a quick entry point into more information on each specific number. Clicking on each statistic in the TRACmeter takes you directly to the Quick Facts summary of the statistic, with links to more detailed data in our free web query tools allowing you to drill into, graph, and display, additional details by time period, location, demographic characteristics or a specific aspect of the immigration enforcement process.