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New Immigration Court Cases Dropping

Published Jun 14, 2024

The latest case-by-case Immigration Court records through the end of May 2024 reveal that the pace of incoming cases has substantially dropped since last December, and since then has continued to decline more modestly. See Figure 1. These data do not yet reflect the impact of President Biden’s June 4, 2024 proclamation severely restricting entry for those seeking asylum, which is likely to reduce the volume of new Court cases.[1]

At the same time, Immigration Court case completions continue to rise, reaching 83,904 in May. See Figure 2. However, the number of completions were still far below incoming cases in May which totaled 147,280. The situation could quickly change if these new border policies remain in effect, despite new litigation, and are effective at severely restricting immigrants allowed into the country.[2]

Figure 1. New Immigration Court Cases Received During The Last 18 Months Through May 31, 2024

Figure 2. Immigration Court Cases Completed During The Last 18 Months Through May 31, 2024

Almost all Court cases (96%) are deportation cases. These are cases initiated by the Department of Homeland Security by filing a Notice to Appear (NTA) asking an Immigration Judge for a removal order so that DHS can deport the individual. Asylum seekers at the border have historically been screened through a “credible fear” or “reasonable fear” process conducted by U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services asylum officers before they are issued this Notice to Appear in Immigration Court.[3] If migrants are not recorded as seeking asylum, CBP officers typically would have issued an “expedited removal” order themselves (without going through a judge) and immediately deported these immigrants. Different from Title 42 expulsions, this is a legal process which not only bars them from entry at that moment, but further legally bars them from reentry for a period of five years. At times, migrants have also been paroled into the country and received an NTA later when they checked in with ICE.

Outcomes of Deportation Cases

Even after having their case before the Immigration Court via the filing of an NTA by the DHS, asylum seekers do not receive an actual hearing on their asylum claim unless they are 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 the immigrants in the Court’s backlog according to its records have found an attorney.

Statistics TRAC has compiled indicate that relatively few obtained asylum hearings. In May, although a total of 76,839 cases were closed, immigration judges issued decisions on the merits of just 6,659 asylum cases. 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 from deportation that the law provides beyond asylum. This includes decisions after merit hearings on other forms of relief.

The largest number—27,919 or 38 percent of all case completions in May—resulted in removal orders, which also bar them from applying for lawful entry in the future, possibly permanently. An additional 794 (1%) were granted so-called “voluntary departure” requiring them to leave by a set date or face additional immigration consequences. If they don’t leave, the order becomes a formal removal order which then bars their reentry. Of those ordered removed, less than 15 percent were represented. It is likely that many of those unrepresented and ordered removed were asylum seekers who never received an actual hearing on their asylum claims.

The least common outcome in May was an official recording of “prosecutorial discretion” which ended DHS’s attempts to pursue deportation in a case. Court records indicate that only 138 – less than 0.18 percent received this outcome.[4]

An additional 27,503 cases, nearly as many cases that ended in removal orders, ended in termination. Cases may be terminated for a variety of reasons including cases where the government failed to establish that actual grounds exist to deport an individual, the individual has subsequently obtained legal status through another avenue, the NTAs were improperly issued or where DHS decides that the case is not a priority for the agency’s limited resources.[5]

A further breakdown of all Immigration Court outcomes is available here.

Quick Facts and TRACmeters

TRAC’s website at trac.syr.edu has been newly redesigned! Among its many improvements are placing more of the latest facts front and center. Readability on mobile phones and other small screens has also been greatly improved.

We now feature “TRACmeters” at the top of the home and major sectional pages. TRACmeters highlight the latest figures for 36 most frequently requested statistics across TRAC’s broad range of research areas. On immigration, TRACmeters feature such 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.

TRACmeters also allow a quick entry point into more information on that specific item. 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 which allow you to drill into, graph, and display, additional details by time period, location, demographic characteristics or a specific aspect of the immigration enforcement process.

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Footnotes

^[1]^ The Fact Sheet issued by the Department of Homeland Security explained: “President Biden issued a Presidential Proclamation to temporarily suspend the entry of noncitizens across the southern border.” On June 5, this entry suspension began. Currently only if asylum seekers register in advance and secure one of the limited number of appointments available through use of Customs and Border Protection’s CBP OneTM mobile app will they be allowed to seek asylum.

^[2]^ On June 12, 2024, immigrants’ rights groups sued seeking to block the new Biden administration interim final rule restricting asylum seekers’ entry into the United States. See complaint and announcement.

^[3]^ If an asylum officer does not find the immigrant has credible or reasonable fear, the asylum seeker can generally ask for a cursory credible fear or reasonable fear review by an Immigration Judge. The number of these reviews make up almost all of the remainder of court cases which are not deportation cases. See Figures 1 and 2 and statistics available here.

^[4]^ This figure is based on case-by-case Court records which TRAC received and marks a sharp change from what records showed was the use of prosecutorial discretion a decade ago. However, there is an extensive body of scholarly research showing that efforts to restrict the inherent discretionary authority of prosecutors and/or judges in federal and state courts are ultimately largely unsuccessful and simply shift how discretionary authority is exercised. Court records available to TRAC unfortunately are not adequate to empirically assess the extent to which this shift may have occurred in the Immigration Court given, for example, the increase in Court dismissals (“terminations”).

^[5]^ Individuals whose cases were terminated may not be facing immediate deportation, but they also do not necessarily have legal status and may face deportation in court again if DHS issues a new Notice to Appear in their case. Given the complexity of legal rules and the diversity of possible reasons behind a termination or dismissal, neither the implications for the individual or the reasons behind the Court’s decision are provided in the Court’s database.

TRAC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit data research center affiliated with the Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Whitman School of Management, both at Syracuse University. For more information, to subscribe, or to donate, contact trac@syr.edu or call 315-443-3563.