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The US immigration court backlog reached nearly 1.6 million cases last year, with cases climbing more rapidly between October and December, according to Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which tracks immigration court data.
The backlog is almost equivalent to the size of Philadelphia's population, the clearinghouse found in its latest study.
Immigration courts, which fall under the Justice Department and decide whether to deport immigrants, have been bogged down over the years as more cases are added to the docket than can be addressed at any given time.
"The immigration courts are in crisis and the time for small measures is over. The immigration court backlog can only be fixed by removing the immigration courts from the U.S. Department of Justice and creating an independent immigration court," said Mimi Tsankov, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, in a statement.
"DOJ has prioritized its law enforcement functions over the immigration courts. The result is bad management, under-budgeting, and a gigantic and growing case backlog," she added.
Cases have been piling on faster than judges can keep up, resulting in the largest increase on record last quarter. From October to December 2021, the immigration backlog increased by almost 140,000 cases, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
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