Dramatic Fall Continues in New Immigration Court Cases
Published Aug 13, 2024
New Immigration Court cases continue their dramatic fall following President Biden’s June 4, 2024 proclamation severely restricting entry for those seeking asylum.[1] See Figure 1. In July 2024 case-by-case court records compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) show new cases fell to just 83,018. This is less than one-third (31%) of the number of new cases which arrived last December 2023 – a drop of over 180,000 cases.
The drop occurred for immigrants from most countries. Last December, the largest number of new Court cases involved people from Venezuela, totaling one out of every five new cases. While still the most numerous in July 2024 as compared with any other nationality group, proportionately the number of Venezuelan cases dropped slightly, comprising one out of six new filings. New filings for immigrants from Mexico came to second among all nationalities during both July 2024 and December 2023. Guatemalan cases, the third most numerous in December, dropped to seventh place in July 2024. Filings involving Cubans moved up to third place.
Numerically, the largest drop in receipts occurred for Immigration Courts in Texas (down over 25,000), New York (down over 21,000), and Florida (down over 20,000). Minnesota and Tennessee Immigration Courts had the largest proportionate drop in new filings. July numbers were less than 25 percent of their respective arriving cases last December.
Month-by-month new court cases for every nationality, state, and county are available using TRAC’s public dashboard at: https://trac.syr.edu/phptools/immigration/ntanew/.
| Immigration Court State | During December 2023 | During July 2024 | Change | Percent June/Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | 263,974 | 83,018 | -180,956 | 31% |
| Arizona | 4,477 | 1,701 | -2,776 | 38% |
| California | 27,857 | 10,669 | -17,188 | 38% |
| Colorado | 9,104 | 2,237 | -6,867 | 25% |
| Connecticut | 2,797 | 769 | -2,028 | 27% |
| Florida | 33,117 | 12,499 | -20,618 | 38% |
| Georgia | 11,940 | 3,244 | -8,696 | 27% |
| Hawaii | 151 | 40 | -111 | 26% |
| Illinois | 20,630 | 5,761 | -14,869 | 28% |
| Louisiana | 3,033 | 1,160 | -1,873 | 38% |
| Maryland | 4,474 | 1,237 | -3,237 | 28% |
| Massachusetts | 6,814 | 2,119 | -4,695 | 31% |
| Michigan | 2,361 | 877 | -1,484 | 37% |
| Minnesota | 3,336 | 761 | -2,575 | 23% |
| Missouri | 3,339 | 1,074 | -2,265 | 32% |
| Nebraska | 2,242 | 703 | -1,539 | 31% |
| Nevada | 2,213 | 809 | -1,404 | 37% |
| New Jersey | 11,297 | 3,462 | -7,835 | 31% |
| New Mexico | 96 | 92 | -4 | 96% |
| New York | 29,152 | 7,536 | -21,616 | 26% |
| North Carolina | 10,020 | 2,481 | -7,539 | 25% |
| Ohio | 4,154 | 1,340 | -2,814 | 32% |
| Oregon | 2,852 | 796 | -2,056 | 28% |
| Pennsylvania | 5,730 | 1,417 | -4,313 | 25% |
| Puerto Rico | 49 | 30 | -19 | 61% |
| Tennessee | 10,601 | 2,530 | -8,071 | 24% |
| Texas | 39,610 | 13,939 | -25,671 | 35% |
| Utah | 4,437 | 1,099 | -3,338 | 25% |
| Virginia | 4,690 | 1,330 | -3,360 | 28% |
| Washington | 3,396 | 1,304 | -2,092 | 38% |