| Increased ATD Enrollment in Some ICE Offices, Decreases in Others |
| (19 Dec 2024) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) now monitors nearly 185,000 people under its Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program, the highest number since February 2024 but still below the total monitored at this time last year. Enrollment trends vary by ICE’s regional offices. Chicago’s office monitors over 19,000 people under ATD, 4,600 more people than the office did in December 2023. Other offices that have assigned more people to the program include the Los Angeles office (increase of 3,700), New York (3,100), and Seattle (2,800). By contrast, Harlingen and San Antonio ICE offices have cut their ATD monitoring activity in half over the last 12 months, monitoring 9,000 and 7,900 fewer individuals in each of their respective regional offices. See more... |
| EOIR completed nearly one million cases in FY 2024 |
| (16 Dec 2024) Immigration Courts completed 914,812 cases—nearly 850,000 of which involved deportation—in Fiscal Year 2024, according to the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), the most closures in a single fiscal year on record and a 36 percent increase from the previous high of 674,848 set in FY 2023.The 87,184 cases completed in May 2024 remains the busiest month on record for EOIR. The Miami Immigration Court issued the most decisions last year, with 46,933 cases in FY 2024, followed by New York (45,104), Orlando (36,274), Chicago (32,570), and Dallas (29,446). See more... |
| Asylum Success Still Varies Widely Among Immigration Judges |
| (25 Nov 2024) Wide differences in Immigration Judge asylum denial rates are evident within many Courts in the latest release of TRAC’s Immigration Judge report series. These new reports update each judge’s asylum decisions over the past six years through September 2024. The series includes 823 individual judge reports covering the 66 current Immigration Courts. Each of the latest individual judge reports is available here. See more... |
| Asylum Grant Rates Decline by a Third |
| (20 Nov 2024) Asylum seekers are having less and less success at their individual hearings before an Immigration Judge. The latest case-by-case Court records for October 2024 show asylum grant rates had declined to just 35.8 percent. This is in down sharply from earlier in the current administration when grant rates had climbed to above 50 percent. During most of FY 2023 grant rates rose to 52.6 percent in September 2023. However, since then asylum grant rates have fallen. Just 13 months later in October 2024 asylum grant rates had fallen by a third from this earlier peak. See more... |
| Increased ICE Detention and ATD in First Update of FY 2025 |
| (19 Nov 2024) In the first updated detention numbers since the start of fiscal year 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reports holding 38,863 immigrant detainees as of November 2, 2024, an increase of nearly 1,500 individuals compared to the prior release in mid-September. More than half of all detainees are held by facilities located in one of three states: Texas (12,017), Louisiana (6,779), and California (2,957). The largest facility in the country—Adams County Detention Center in Natchez, Mississippi—detains an average daily population of 2,067 individuals. See more... |
| Increasing Number of Deportation Orders for Mexicans in Immigration court |
| (15 Nov 2024) More than 7,000 Mexican nationals were ordered deported by Immigration Judges in October 2024. In fact, last month more deportations were ordered for Mexicans than for any other nationality group. Deportation orders for Mexicans have been on the rise, and October marked the highest monthly number in more than a decade. See more... |
| Historically Low Prosecution of White-Collar Crime Continued in FY 2024 |
| (13 Nov 2024) The latest available case-by-case records from the Department of Justice showed that federal prosecution of white-collar crime remained little changed. During fiscal year 2024 (October 2023-September 2024) a total of 4,332 persons were prosecuted, little different from the 4,196 prosecutions that were filed during fiscal year 2023. White-collar crimes cover all kinds of fraud offenses including consumer and health care fraud to banking, commodities frauds, anti-trust violations and identity theft. See more... |
| Current Inadmissibility Decisions at U.S. Ports of Entry |
| (11 Nov 2024) In fiscal year 2024, about 1.2 million noncitizens arriving at the United States by land, air and sea seeking entry were initially found to be “inadmissible.” Office of Field Operations (OFO) personnel then have to conduct an examination of each of these individuals to determine whether they should be turned away or allowed into the country. See more... |
| The Immigration Court Saw Record Activity in Fiscal Year 2024 |
| (21 Oct 2024) The latest Immigration Court records, updated through September 2024, show record activity at fiscal 2024 year-end. See more... |
| TRAC Wins Major Court Victory: DOJ to Release Long-Withheld Data |
| (02 Oct 2024) After a 20-year fight, TRAC has won a major court verdict that will significantly increase the amount of Justice Department data available to its users. See more... |
| Number of ICE Detainees Increases for First Time Since June |
| (18 Sep 2024) In data updated to early September 2024, the number of individuals detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) increased slightly to 37,395 due largely to more arrests made by both ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). While ICE book-ins to detention facilities have been increasing through much of the fiscal year, the number of CBP book-ins increased for the first time since May, going from 15,625 book-ins in July to 16,508 in August. In total, there were 24,696 separate book-ins to detention in the month of August. See more... |
| EOIR Takes Steps To Mitigate DHS Failure To File Timely NTAs |
| (17 Sep 2024) The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) announced last Friday that it was taking steps to mitigate the failure of the Department of Homeland Security to file timely Notices to Appear (NTAs). Without an NTA, the Court lacks jurisdiction. Cases must be dismissed, leaving immigrants in legal limbo and wasting the Court’s limited hearing slots. See TRAC’s March 2024 report. See more... |
| Targeting of ICE Detainers: Biden and Trump Administrations |
| (13 Sep 2024) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has long claimed that detainers, often called "immigration holds," are an essential tool needed to apprehend and deport individuals not authorized to remain in the U.S. See more... |
| Who Is Being Given Humanitarian Parole To Temporarily Enter the Country: Latest Data |
| (06 Sep 2024) When noncitizens arrive at one of over 300 U.S. ports of entry, either along the border or at an international airport, border officials must assess whether each person can show that they are allowed to enter the United States (i.e., whether they are admissible) or whether they are not admissible (i.e., inadmissible). Port of entry officials may allow individuals and families temporary entry through the exercise of specific legal provisions for humanitarian parole. Under humanitarian parole, foreign nationals are given a temporary entry permit to the United States for an urgent humanitarian reason or significant public benefit. See more... |
| ICE Closes South Texas Family Residential Center, Once the Largest ICE Detention Facility in the Country |
| (30 Aug 2024) In June 2024, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the closure of South Texas Family Residential Center, one of the largest ICE detention facilities in the country. Agency officials claimed that because it is “the most expensive facility in the national detention network,” “[c]losing this facility will enable ICE to reallocate funding to increase overall detention bed capacity by an estimated 1,600 beds.” See more... |
| Shifts in Arrest Authority Among Immigrants Detained by ICE: CBP Down, ICE Up |
| (16 Aug 2024) According to the most recent data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), individuals arrested by ICE have steadily increased from 27 percent to 37 percent of the detainee population throughout fiscal year 2024. Meanwhile, the share of ICE detainees arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) fell to 63 percent, the lowest level since May 2023 and a decrease from the beginning of fiscal year 2024, when CBP conducted 73 percent of all arrests. See more... |
| Dramatic Fall Continues in New Immigration Court Cases |
| (13 Aug 2024) New Immigration Court cases continue their dramatic fall following President Biden’s June 4, 2024 proclamation severely restricting entry for those seeking asylum. 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. See more... |
| ICE Monitoring Fewest Immigrants on ATD in Two-and-a-Half Years |
| (19 Jul 2024) According to the latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a total of 177,670 immigrants are being monitored in the agency’s Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program. From the start of the Biden administration through the end of the 2022 calendar year, ATD numbers grew dramatically, reaching a reported height of 377,980 as of December 17, 2022. Since the start of 2023, however, these numbers have declined steadily and reached a plateau between about 185,000 and 195,000 since the summer of 2023. These numbers then declined further in recent weeks to its current numbers, the lowest since January 15, 2022, when the total was 164,391. This decline coincides with the Biden administration’s recent efforts to limit access to asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. See more... |
| New Immigration Court Cases Fall Sharply After Biden Entry Restrictions Imposed |
| (11 Jul 2024) New Immigration Court cases dropped sharply in June following President Biden’s June 4, 2024, proclamation severely restricting entry for those seeking asylum. Case-by-case court records compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) show just 100,000 new cases arrived in June, down more than 40,000 cases from May totals. Compared with six months ago when new Court filings reached a high of 264,049, the fall in June to only 100,909 cases was dramatic. See more... |
| ICE Chicago Now Monitors Most Immigrants on ATD in the Country |
| (08 Jul 2024) According to the latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest number of immigrants monitored through the Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program—18,478 in total—are monitored out of the ICE office in Chicago, Illinois. This includes immigrants who live in Chicago, as well as immigrants who live in the much larger region of ICE Chicago’s Area of Responsibility, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Kansas, and Missouri. This increase is in line with TRAC’s most recent observations that ATD numbers in ICE’s Chicago office were on their way up two weeks ago. See more... |
| Immigration Prosecutions Increase With New Push for Border Enforcement |
| (25 Jun 2024) Criminal prosecution of immigration crimes has grown since the start of the Biden administration. Figures for the latest available three months covering February-April 2024 show a pronounced jump up 21 percent over the comparable period a year ago. While case-by-case records reflect month-to-month fluctuations, the overall rise from three years ago after Biden assumed office show prosecution levels are now up by 65 percent. These increases may continue given the Department of Justice’s announcement in May 2024 to step up efforts to prosecute human trafficking and immigration-related crimes along the U.S.-Mexico border. See more... |
| ICE Chicago Now Monitors 18,000 Immigrants on ATD, Second to San Francisco |
| (21 Jun 2024) According to the latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), there are 38,525 individuals currently held in detention, an increase of about 1,000 detainees from the numbers released in early June of this year and nearly 9,000 more than the numbers reported in June of 2023. ICE was reported as the arresting agency for 33 percent of current detainees with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) named the arresting agency for the other 67 percent. See more... |
| New Immigration Court Cases Dropping |
| (14 Jun 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. 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 further reduce the volume of new Court cases. At the same time, Immigration Court case completions continue to rise. See more... |
| Book-Ins to Immigrant Detention in May Reached Highest Level Since Start of Fiscal Year |
| (07 Jun 2024) The number of immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and booked into immigrant detention facilities has been on the rise in recent months and reached just over 28,000 through the end of May 2024. This has fueled an increase in the total number of immigrants currently held in detention to 37,360 as of June 2, 2024. See more... |
| 36,571 Immigrants Held in ICE Detention Latest Data Show |
| (29 May 2024) ICE’s detention numbers remain consistent over the past few weeks with the latest numbers released today showing that 36,571 immigrants were held in detention as of May 19, 2024. According to ICE’s data, 27 percent of immigrants in detention have criminal convictions; another 12 percent have pending criminal charges and the majority, 62 percent, only show immigration violations on record. See more... |
| Two-Thirds of Court Asylum Applicants Found Legally Entitled to Remain |
| (17 May 2024) The latest Immigrant Court records show that over the past decade (FY 2014 to April 2024) Immigration Judges have adjudicated just over one million removal cases in which the immigrant filed an asylum application. Out of these 1,047,134 cases, Judges determined that 685,956 immigrants were legally entitled to remain in the United States because they merited asylum or another form of relief from deportation. Another 332,552 immigrants were ordered removed, and an additional 28,626 immigrants were issued voluntary departure orders. Thus, in total, over the last decade just a third (34%) of immigrants in removal proceedings who filed asylum applications were ordered deported while two-thirds (66%) were allowed to remain in the country. See more... |
| DEA Enforcement Continues to Decline in FY 2024 |
| (16 May 2024) The government reported 4,356 new prosecutions that resulted from cases referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) during the first six months of FY 2024. According to case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), the pace of new prosecutions is down six (6) percent compared to the previous fiscal year. DEA referrals to federal prosecutors have similarly been declining. See more... |
| Wrist-Worn GPS Monitors Now Fastest Growing Electronic Monitoring Type Used by ICE |
| (14 May 2024) The number of immigrants monitored by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) using BI’s new VeriWatch wrist-worn GPS device is the fastest-growing tool in ICE’s toolbox of electronic monitoring technologies. One year ago, in May 2023 when ICE first released data on its pilot program to test the technology in Denver, just 50 immigrants were on this technology. See more... |
| Nearly 1.3 Million Asylum Cases Now Pending in Immigration Court |
| (10 May 2024) According to the latest immigration court data analyzed by TRAC at Syracuse University, almost 1.3 million immigrants with pending deportation cases (out of almost 3.6 million total pending cases) have filed asylum applications with the court as of the end of April 2024. See more... |
| TRAC Unveils New and Improved Homepage |
| (02 May 2024) TRAC is excited to announce a comprehensive redesign of our homepage to enhance user experience and streamline access to data and reports right from the start. As a technical website designed to handle TRAC’s vast troves of data and a high volume of traffic each month, we aim to provide the public with the most current data possible while prioritizing stability (with minimum downtime). The new homepage redesign maintains this commitment and our color scheme, but emphasizes visual data presentation, improves readability, and streamlines navigation—especially on smartphones and tablets. Our latest reports, interactive data tools, and most requested data points from various domains of research are now all accessible directly from the homepage. See more... |
| Number of Immigrant Detainees Arrested by ICE Continues to Increase |
| (26 Apr 2024) The number of immigrants in ICE detention who were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (typically representing 'interior enforcement') instead of Customs and Border Protection (typically at or near the US borders) has grown steadily to now over 12,000 for the first time since November 2020. In that month, similar data released by ICE reported 11,503 detainees at that time were arrested by ICE. See more... |
| Top Places With the Most Immigrants Recently Ordered Deported |
| (23 Apr 2024) During just the last six months, about a half million immigrants were deported by ICE or by Border Patrol agents. This does not include an additional 137,000 immigrants ordered deported in increasing numbers by Immigration Judges. Compared with peak removals in FY 2019 during the prior Administration, the pace of these new removal orders today is 50 percent higher. See more... |
| ICE Detention Numbers Lowest Since Start of Fiscal Year, ICE Expands Use of GPS Smartwatches |
| (16 Apr 2024) Immigrant detention numbers are the lowest since the start of the fiscal year in October, reaching 34,580 according to the latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last Friday. The decline in detention numbers comes entirely from fewer numbers of detainees who are arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which fell from 25,248 two weeks ago to 22,777 in ICE’s current release. CBP encounters along the Southwest Border, including arrests by Border Patrol between ports of entry, also declined from February to March. Meanwhile, detainees arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have continued to inch upward since the start of the fiscal year, including a minor increase from 11,683 to 11,803 over the past two weeks. See more... |
| ICE Detention Numbers Decline Slightly to 27,000, GPS Ankle Monitors See Continued Growth |
| (01 Apr 2024) The number of detainees held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) dropped to 36,931, a drop of just over 2,000 from the previous detention data released in early March. Much of this decrease is due to a reported drop in detainees who had been arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Between March 10 and March 24, the number of detainees who had been arrested by CBP fell from 27,623 to 24,248 while detainees arrested by ICE increased slightly from 11,488 to 11,683. See more... |
| 200,000 Immigration Court Cases Dismissed Because DHS Failed to File Paperwork |
| (20 Mar 2024) Approximately 200,000 deportation cases have been thrown out by Immigration Judges since the start of the Biden administration because the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hadn’t filed the required Notice to Appear (NTA) with the Court by the time of the scheduled hearing. Without a proper filing, the Court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case and the immigrants, often asylum seekers, lack a way to move their case forward. See more... |
| ICE Increases Use of GPS Monitoring for Immigrants in Alternatives to Detention (ATD) |
| (15 Mar 2024) Since the start of the Biden administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) increasingly relied on a smartphone app known as SmartLINK to expand the agency’s Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program which monitors migrants who are not in detention. This trend coincided with a decrease in the use of GPS ankle monitors which had long characterized ATD. See more... |
| New Immigration Court Data Show New Cases Continue to Fall |
| (13 Mar 2024) According to the latest Immigration Court records, the number of incoming cases continues to decline. In February 2024 the Immigration Courts received 144,939 new cases—10,000 fewer cases than arrived during January. This is sharply lower than the 265,000 cases that arrived two months ago during December. See more... |
| Number of Detained Migrants Increases; Number of Migrants on ATD Decreases |
| (29 Feb 2024) The number of detained immigrants has increased by over 45 percent over the last calendar year, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). By contrast, the number of individuals enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program has decreased by 37 percent. As of late February 2024, nearly 185,000 families and single individuals are enrolled in ATD, a drop from 293,000 enrolled at this time in 2023. About 39,000 individuals are currently detained, up from 27,000 last year. See more... |
| ICE Detention Numbers Increase While CBP Encounters and New Deportation Cases Drop |
| (19 Feb 2024) Although the number of border encounters and new deportation cases dropped in January, the number of people in immigrant detention increased. A total of 38,258 individuals are currently held in detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), representing more than a thousand more people detained than the end of December 2023 when 37,131 immigrants were held in detention on a single day. These detention numbers stand in contrast to other frequently cited migration metrics. According to U.S. Border Patrol, migrant encounters between ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border dropped by 50 percent in January 2024 compared to December 2023. Similarly, TRAC previously found that the immigration courts received 110,000 fewer cases over that same time span. In the second quarter of FY 2024, the rapid changes in other parts of the U.S. immigration system seem to be trending in the opposite direction compared to the ICE detention rates. See more... |
| New Immigration Court Data Show Sharp Drop in New Cases, Increase in Case Closures |
| (09 Feb 2024) According to the latest court records the number of incoming cases declined substantially in January 2024, when the Immigration Courts received 154,057 new cases, a drop of over 110,000 in monthly new arrivals at the Court compared to December. At the same time, Court completions last month jumped to a new record high with 76,679 closures, which is 45 percent greater than they were at this time a year ago. See more... |
| Immigrants Pay $2 Billion in ICE Bonds Since FY 2017 |
| (08 Feb 2024) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) often requires immigrants to pay a bond before releasing them from immigrant detention centers. In addition to Alternatives to Detention (ATD) monitoring, ICE uses bonds as a way of ensuring that immigrants attend their immigration court hearings and follow additional requirements set by ICE. Once a bond is posted, detained immigrants are typically released. See more... |
| 38,498 Immigrants in Detention According to Latest ICE Detention Data |
| (02 Feb 2024) According to the latest immigrant detention data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), about 38,500 immigrants are held in detention centers across the country. The number of detained immigrants arrested by ICE has increased marginally to 10,955 as of January 28, 2024, the highest since the start of the Biden administration, while the number arrested by CBP stands at 27,543. See more... |
| Modest Increase in Official Corruption Convictions in 2023 |
| (31 Jan 2024) The latest fiscal yearend data from the Justice Department show that during FY 2023 the federal government reported 334 new official corruption convictions. This number is up 2.5 percent over the previous fiscal year when the number of convictions totaled 326. See more... |
| Too Few Immigration Attorneys: Average Representation Rates Fall from 65% To 30% |
| (24 Jan 2024) There is widespread agreement that the Immigration Court has far too few judges and support staff to handle newly arriving cases let alone process their backlog of cases which has been piling up for decades. While 1,490,480 cases were filed last year, the Court backlog at the end of December 2023 has grown to 3,287,058 cases. See more... |
| First Immigrant Detention Numbers of 2024 Show New Norm |
| (22 Jan 2024) According to the first immigrant detention data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the new calendar year detention numbers reflect relative stability after periods of growth and decline earlier in the Biden administration. See more... |
| 50 Percent Jump in Immigration Court Case Completions |
| (19 Jan 2024) Immigration judges completed almost 200,000 cases during the first quarter of FY 2024 (October-December 2023). This is a 50 percent jump as compared with the same period a year ago when judges had completed 132,000 cases. So far in FY 2024, judges issued around 64,000 deportation orders. See more... |
| A Ten-Year Look at Inadmissible Migrants and Paroled Migrants at Ports of Entry |
| (12 Jan 2024) When noncitizens arrive at a port of entry, either along the border or at an international airport, border officials must assess whether each person can show documentation allowing them entry into the United States (i.e., whether they are admissible) or whether they are not admissible (i.e., inadmissible). If a border agent finds that a person is not admissible, there are provisions in the law that may allow that person to physically enter the country. One of these provisions, parole, allows the government to permit noncitizens to enter the country lawfully on a temporary basis and potentially receive work authorization. See more... |
| Twelve ICE Facilities Hold Over 1,000 Immigrant Detainees Each |
| (05 Jan 2024) According to the latest data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), twelve immigrant detention facilities in the United States currently have an average daily population of over 1,000 detainees each. These facilities are mainly located in the U.S. South and Southwest, including five facilities in Texas, two in Louisiana, and one each in Arizona, California, Georgia, and Mississippi, as well as one in Pennsylvania. See more... |
| Length of Time Immigrants Remain in Detention Grows in Recent Weeks |
| (22 Dec 2023) According to the latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the total number of people in immigrant detention centers has remained relatively high at 36,263 as of December 17. Seven out of ten (25,875) of those in detention were originally arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and turned over to ICE for detention. See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Tops 3 Million; Each Judge Assigned 4,500 Cases |
| (18 Dec 2023) A new record was reached in November. The Immigration Court backlog passed 3 million pending cases. Just 12 months ago, during November 2022, the backlog was 2 million. That means the case backlog has grown by a million cases in just the past 12 months. See more... |
| ICE AORs in Texas Lead in Use of GPS Technology for Monitoring Migrants in the Alternatives to Detention Program |
| (11 Dec 2023) According to the latest detention data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a total of 15,994 migrants were monitored using GPS monitor technology on ICE's Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program. As previously reported, some GPS devices are wrist-worn while many are placed on the ankle. The Areas of Responsibility (AOR) based in the state of Texas collectively lead in the use of this technology, monitoring 9,887 individuals, or 61.8 percent of all GPS-monitored migrants enrolled in ATD across the United States. Nationally, GPS technology is most utilized in San Antonio AOR (4,825), Harlingen AOR (2,200), and El Paso AOR (1,863). See more... |
| FY 2023 Weapons Convictions Under Biden Continue At Record High Levels |
| (11 Dec 2023) Federal convictions for weapons convictions for FY 2023 ended with another record year, even exceeding predictions from earlier. Federal prosecutors obtained 1,082 convictions in September, ending out the fiscal year with a total of 9,460 covering October 2022 through September 2023. Thus, convictions showed an accelerating pace during the last half of the fiscal year. See more... |
| San Francisco Returns as Busiest ICE Office for Migrants on ATD |
| (28 Nov 2023) According to the latest detention data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a total of 18,848 migrants were monitored on ICE’s Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program out of the San Francisco Area of Operations (AOR)—more than any other AOR. In second place was ICE’s Chicago, Illinois, office, which monitors 14,617 migrants and Newark, New Jersey, which monitors 14,054 migrants. See more... |
| Detained Immigrant Population Grows to Nearly 40,000, the Highest Point in Nearly Four Years |
| (16 Nov 2023) According to the latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a total of 39,748 immigrants were held in detention as of November 5, 2023. The last time detention numbers reached 40,000 was in January 2020. Immigrant detention numbers previously grew from around 20,000 at the beginning of the year to around 30,000 at the beginning of June, but then remained steady for most of the summer. ICE’s detention numbers began growing again since the end of August, when around 33,000 immigrants were detained. See more... |
| TRAC Adds Asylum Reports on Nearly 100 New Immigration Judges |
| (08 Nov 2023) TRAC released its latest series of Immigration Judge reports, updated with asylum grant and denial rates by individual Judges through the end of FY 2023 (September 2023). These annual reports examine asylum decisions for individual Immigration Judges in each of the 64 current immigration courts. See more... |
| CBP's Inadmissible Data at U.S. Ports of Entry Show Changes in Migration Patterns |
| (31 Oct 2023) The number of people found to be inadmissible at U.S. ports of entry rose to an all-time high in the summer of 2023. In the two months of June and July 2023, Office of Field Operations (OFO) officers determined that a total of 199,535 were inadmissible, including 101,450 in June and 98,085 in July. This is over four times the level typically encountered during the last decade up until monthly numbers began to rise in 2021. See more... |
| Ports of Entry Are Issuing More Notices to Appear Than Ever Before |
| (11 Oct 2023) In July 2023, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at ports of entry across the United States issued a record number of Notices to Appear—44,900 in total—to immigrants who were found inadmissible under U.S. law. Notices to Appear (NTAs), which put immigrants into removal proceedings within the immigration courts, were rarely used at ports of entry until the Biden administration. According to data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, CBP’s Office of Field Operations (OFO) issued 280,000 NTAs in the first 10 months of FY 2023, a significant increase from 95,000 the previous year and up from about 48,000 five years ago in FY 2018. See more... |
| Decline in ICE's Alternatives to Detention (ATD) Numbers Driven by Lower Enrollment in Texas |
| (29 Sep 2023) After Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Alternatives to Detention (ATD) population peaked at more than 375,000 in December of 2022, ATD numbers declined to 194,632 according to data released today. See more... |
| ICE Detention Returns to Pre-COVID Pandemic Levels |
| (26 Sep 2023) According to the latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency is now detaining more than 35,000 individuals, the first time it has hit that threshold since the beginning of the COVID pandemic in the United States in March 2020. The population detained who were originally arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) continues to increase, from 23,119 at the end of August, to a September population of 25,362. By contrast, the detained population of those arrested by ICE remained relatively unchanged, going from 9,624 to 9,672 over the same time period. See more... |
| Record Number of New Immigration Court Cases Arrive in August; Destinations For Asylum Seekers |
| (20 Sep 2023) Shifting A total of 180,065 new deportation cases arrived at the Immigration Court during August. This is a jump of 19 percent in just one month; July filings had reached a previous high of 151,910. While the growth rate of 19 percent is large, it has moderated from the 28 percent jump seen from June to July. See more... |
| Prison Sentencing Patterns for Drug Offenses in U.S. District Courts |
| (13 Sep 2023) Detailed data on federal sentencing, updated through June 2023, found the median length of prison sentences for federal drug crimes was 60 months (or 5 years). However, sentence length varied greatly depending upon the federal courthouse and the judge handling the case. Federal district court judges in San Diego had the widest variation in their median or typical prison sentences. There one judge assigned a median prison sentence of 13 months during the five-year study period, while a colleague on the same bench gave a median prison sentence of 77.5 months. See more... |
| Immigrant Detention Numbers, Driven by CBP Arrests, at Highest Point Since Start of Biden Administration |
| (01 Sep 2023) According to the latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency was detaining 32,743 migrants on August 27, 2023. This is the highest point since the start of the Biden administration. The growth in detention in recent weeks has been driven by a steady growth in arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). See more... |
| ICE Expands Testing of GPS Watch to Immigrants in Los Angeles |
| (21 Aug 2023) According to the latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency expanded its testing of a GPS watch called the VeriWatch to electronically monitor immigrants in Los Angeles. ICE previously announced that it would be testing the use of the watch on 50 immigrants in its Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program who were living in the Denver area. However, since the previous data on ATD data were released in mid-July, a new cohort of about 50 migrants are reportedly being monitored by the agency out of the Los Angeles office, an expansion that did not appear to come with a public announcement and may indicate further testing or a coming expansion of the use of this new technology. See more... |
| The Changing Make-Up of Immigration Court Cases Now That Title 42 Has Ended |
| (16 Aug 2023) A large influx of new Immigration Court cases was widely expected after the termination on May 11, 2023, of Title 42 -- a public health policy that allowed individuals arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border to be immediately expelled without a hearing. According to the latest case-by-case records released by the Immigration Courts, this influx did not occur. See more... |
| A Close Look at the Geography of Border Patrol Arrests: How a Spike in Annual Arrests Along U.S.-Mexico Border Hides |
| (15 Aug 2023) Remarkable Variation by Sector and Nationality The Southwest Border is often represented as a single, uniform line separating the United States and Mexico. But at nearly 2,000 miles, touching four U.S. states and six Mexican states, and crossing multiple terrains and ecosystems, this representation of the border can obscure the geographically-specific trends in the number and nationality of migrants arrested by Border Patrol in each of the agency’s nine sectors. See more... |
| Several Years of Record-Setting Hurricanes Lead to Deluge of Insurance Lawsuits in Louisiana Courts |
| (07 Aug 2023) Louisiana has emerged as a hotspot for insurance-related civil litigation in federal court as repeated severe weather events undermine the region's insurance safety nets. According to TRAC's data on federal civil court filings, these lawsuits show a sustained increase across the state following severe weather events since FY 2020. Insurance lawsuits typically arise when residents are unsatisfied with the estimates and compensation provided by their insurance companies. So far in FY 2023, the Eastern District of Louisiana has seen the most insurance lawsuits, with 2,471 total and 255 in June alone. This is a change from FY 2021 and 2022 when the Western District of Louisiana received the largest numbers of insurance lawsuits in the state. See more... |
| Death Sentences Are Almost Never Imposed at the Federal Level |
| (03 Aug 2023) The death sentence handed down by a jury yesterday in the case of Robert Bowers, the man who perpetrated the antisemitic attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, is extraordinarily rare. Federal records show that the death sentence is almost never imposed at the federal level, making the case truly exceptional. During the last 10 years, records of sentences by federal prosecutors show that death sentences were previously handed down on just 25 occasions out of more than 1.1 million federal sentences recorded. See more... |
| Wire Fraud Charges and Convictions Projected to Reach Record Levels in FY 2023 |
| (21 Jul 2023) According to the latest data on federal prosecutions, the total number of federal prosecutions with wire fraud as the lead charge is projected by September to reach 1,304. The pace thus far in FY 2023 is the highest on record since TRAC began tracking these data points in the 1980s. For the third year in a row, consistent with the start of the Biden administration, wire fraud charges will exceed 1,000 prosecutions filed. See more... |
| ICE's Office in Harlingen, Texas, Replaced by Miami and San Francisco as Monitoring Largest Number of Immigrants in Alternatives to Detention Program |
| (20 Jul 2023) ICE’s latest data on immigrants enrolled in the agency’s electronic monitoring program known as Alternatives to Detention (ATD) show a change in which regional ICE offices are monitoring the largest numbers of migrants. ICE’s office in Harlingen, Texas, the office with the most migrants on ATD, has been supplanted by Miami and San Francisco, who now monitor more migrants as overall ATD numbers drop across the country. See more... |
| Detained Immigrants Seeking Release on Bond Have Widely Different Outcomes, Overall Bond Grant Rates Have Dropped |
| (19 Jul 2023) The odds that Immigration Judges granted bond motions for detained immigrants varied this year so far from a low of just three percent at the Northwest Detention Center in the state of Washington to 45 percent at the Krome North Special Processing Center in Florida. This report, based on the latest case-by-case Immigration Court records, summarizes outcomes for over 19,000 bond hearings covering the first nine months of FY 2023 (through June). See more... |
| Convictions for Transporting or Harboring Undocumented Immigrants Jump Under Biden |
| (13 Jul 2023) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first eight months of FY 2023 the government reported a record 3,894 new convictions for bringing in or harboring undocumented immigrants (8 U.S.C. 1324). The average prison sentence under this lead charge was 11 months, while the median sentence — half received longer sentences while half received shorter — was 6 months. See more... |
| ICE's Detained Population Crosses 30,000, Four Facilities Average Over 1,000 Detained Persons Per Day this Fiscal Year |
| (12 Jul 2023) According to the latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), just over 30,000 immigrants are being held in immigrant detention facilities across the country. Most of these individuals—20,321 or 68 percent—were arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), while another 9,682 (or 32 percent) were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This is up slightly from 29,613 since the previous release of updated data. See more... |
| Immigrant Detention Numbers After the End of Title 42 |
| (28 Jun 2023) The latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) show that ICE’s detention numbers increased from 21,000 in early May to 27,000 in mid-May but have climbed relatively little since then. So far during June they remained consistently under 30,000 despite the termination of Title 42 after May 11, a policy that had turned nearly all migrants away at the border. Questions had been raised whether the federal government would substantially increase its use of detention for migrants entering the country, including those who would be seeking asylum, once Title 42 ended. See more... |
| Top County Destinations for Asylum Seekers |
| (21 Jun 2023) New York City remains the top destination for recently arrived migrants seeking asylum in the United States. Almost 39,000 have located in New York in just the last three months, based on the zip codes of where immigrants with new deportation cases have settled according to Immigration Court records. Compared to New York City, Houston and Miami-Dade County are a distant fourth and fifth place. See more... |
| New Data on ICE Immigrant Detainers Show Sharp Drop Since Start of Biden Administration |
| (20 Jun 2023) According to the latest records received from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the number of immigrant detainers sent to local law-enforcement agencies declined considerably at the start of the Biden administration. See more... |
| ICE Releases Numbers on New Veriwatch Immigrant Monitoring Device |
| (13 Jun 2023) The latest data on immigrant detention released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) show that ICE is currently monitoring 48 immigrants using Veriwatch, a wrist-worn GPS monitor with biometric authentication, through the Denver office. ICE recently announced that it would be piloting this technology. The number of migrants in ATD otherwise continued its slow but steady decline. On June 3, a total of 224,725 immigrants were monitored by ICE, down from 242,418 on May 6. The total had reached a high of 377,980 in December 2022. See more... |
| ICE Again Bungles Alternatives to Detention Data, Claims Contractor is Charging $550,000 Per Day |
| (31 May 2023) ICE again released data on the number of immigrants monitored by the agency’s Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program that is inaccurate and misleading, which continues a pattern of sloppy data releases that the agency appears unable or unwilling to resolve. ICE data, posted on their website on May 26, 2023, claims that 235,890 immigrants are in ATD—a plausible number based on the fact that the prior data from early in May showed 242,418 immigrants in the program. See more... |
| Immigrant Detention Numbers Down at End of Title 42 |
| (22 May 2023) The most recent data released to the public by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) show that the number of immigrants in detention facilities and those in ICE's electronic monitoring program known as Alternatives to Detention (ATD) are down as Title 42 came to a close on May 11. Title 42 was a pandemic-era policy first put in place by the Trump administration and extended by the Biden administration which allowed border officers to turn all migrants back at the border. See more... |
| Immigration Processing Delays Prompt Record Number of Mandamus Lawsuits in Federal Court |
| (15 May 2023) The federal government is facing a flurry of immigration-related civil lawsuits in court. In February 2023 alone, the federal civil courts recorded 943 immigration-related lawsuits, the highest immigration-related lawsuits for any single month on record. So far in FY 2023, from October to February, the courts recorded 4,175 total civil immigration filings. At this rate, the total number of filings for the year is estimated to exceed 10,000, a new record. See more... |
| Despite Efforts to Provide Pro Bono Representation, Growth Is Failing To Meet Exploding Needs |
| (12 May 2023) The availability of pro bono legal representation has grown for noncitizens with cases before the Immigration Court. It is, in part, a remarkable story of the increase of volunteer efforts across this country given the importance of legal representation to immigration outcomes. But despite this growth, volunteer efforts have not been able to meet the needs of immigrants as the number and pace of Court hearings accelerate. See more... |
| Federal Drug Enforcement Cracks Down on Meth and Fentanyl |
| (10 May 2023) Federal drug prosecutions have begun to slowly rise after falling for decades. The latest available case-by-case records from all 94 U.S. Attorney offices show that 2,231 defendants were convicted of federal drug offenses in March 2023, the largest recorded monthly total since March of 2016. See more... |
| Mapping IRS Tax Return Filings Reveals Marked Differences in the Distribution of Income and Dependents |
| (27 Apr 2023) Most Americans filed their taxes recently, not only providing the federal government with funds needed to operate but also providing the IRS (and ultimately the public) with important data about the reported amounts and sources of income, their number of dependents, and other factors that shape the distribution of financial means across the country. See more... |
| ICE's Detention Numbers Creep Upward, TRAC Adds Usability Feature to Quick Facts |
| (03 Apr 2023) According to the latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), detention numbers creeped upward in recent weeks while alternatives to detention numbers continue to decline. TRAC has also implemented new user improvements for Quick Facts where these data are made more accessible to the public. See more... |
| Weapons Convictions Under Biden Are At Record High Levels |
| (24 Mar 2023) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2023 the government reported 992 new federal weapons convictions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up from 731 convictions the previous month. And if the current pace continues for the rest of this fiscal year, convictions for weapons offenses would reach just under 9,000. See more... |
| Decline in Immigration Detention Book-Ins and Migrants on ATD According to Latest Data from ICE |
| (17 Mar 2023) The most recent data released to the public by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) show that the number of immigrants booked into detention facilities fell in February to 19,731, down from just over 22,000 in January. The overall decline was driven by a decline in detentions stemming from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rather than from ICE, who actually saw a very slight uptick in new detentions from about 6,500 in January to nearly 7,000 in February. This is consistent with CBP's recent report that they saw a sharp decline in Southwest land border encounters from 252,000 in December to 155,000 in February. See more... |
| Immigration Judges Overturn Asylum Officer's Negative Credible Fear Findings in a Quarter of All Cases |
| (14 Mar 2023) Over 100,000 credible fear cases have been heard by Immigration Judges (IJs). These cases determine whether the migrant has a credible fear of persecution or torture if returned to their home country. Unless the migrant passes this screening, the individual generally will be immediately deported. If they receive a favorable decision, then and only then will they have an opportunity to have their asylum claims formally heard. See more... |
| 25 Years of Immigration Court Decisions |
| (09 Mar 2023) The number of Immigration Court case closures are headed to a new high this year. Outcomes on how cases are being decided also are setting both some specific record highs, as well as new lows. Results compare the current president's record with four previous presidential administrations stretching back 25 years to when Bill Clinton was president. See more... |
| False Reporting by Contractor on Alternatives to Detention Activities |
| (07 Mar 2023) What lies behind ICE's frequent posting of Alternatives to Detention (ATD) data that the agency now admits was incorrect? The data ICE had been posting for months showed that use of GPS ankle monitors had been increasing. ICE now reports this is incorrect, that ankle monitor usage is in fact way down, not up. See more... |
| Migrants Under ICE's Alternatives to Detention Move Away From Border Areas |
| (03 Mar 2023) ICE posted updates to its detention data twice this week: first on Tuesday and then again today. The data show a consistent downward trend in the number of migrants ICE is monitoring under its Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program, now down 22 percent since December 31, 2022. The ICE area offices responsible have also shifted with communities along the Mexico-US border seeing the largest declines while some other communities experienced ATD growth. See more... |
| Number of Immigrants on ICE's Alternatives to Detention Monitoring Program Now Steadily Declining After Months of Growth |
| (28 Feb 2023) After two years of steady growth of ICE’s Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program, the total population on ATD declined from 377,980 in December down to 305,992 as of February 11, 2023. The number of migrants monitored by each technology type has declined, including SmartLINK, a smartphone app that is currently ICE’s most-used monitoring technology. See more... |
| Immigration Court Case Closures Accelerate, Racing to Catch Up with Growing DHS Filings |
| (21 Feb 2023) Immigration Court dispositions are reaching record highs. In FY 2023, Court closures are on pace to grow to nearly half a million cases disposed of by Immigration Judges. Case dispositions in FY 2022 were a record 47 percent higher than the previous high set during FY 2019. During the first four months of FY 2023 (Oct 2022-Jan 2023), Court closures reached 172,180, 85 percent higher than a comparable period during 2019. See more... |
| Persons Held in ICE Custody Rose in January 2023 While Alternatives to Detention (ATD) Numbers Fell |
| (07 Feb 2023) ICE detention numbers have begun to rise from earlier lows over the holidays. As of January 29, 2023, a total of 24,170 immigrants were reported held in ICE detention. An increase in CBP arrests at the border so far during January 2023 helped fuel this rise. See more... |
| TRAC Updates Immigration Court Backlog Tool as Part of Broader Redesign Efforts |
| (01 Feb 2023) The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University released a thoroughly redesigned version of its online interactive Immigration Court Backlog App today, allowing the public to see more detail about cases pending in the U.S. Immigration Courts. These design and usability improvements, along with much expanded data options, are part of broader redesign efforts at TRAC that are reflected across a wide range of immigration tools that are essential for researchers, journalists, policymakers, government employees, and the public. See more... |
| Number of Immigrants on ICE's Alternatives to Detention Declines, Though Quality of These Data Remain in Question |
| (20 Jan 2023) After two years of steady growth of ICE’s Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program, the total population on ATD declined in two weeks by more than 20,000—from 376,030 down to 355,140—since December 31, 2022. The total number of migrants tracked using various technologies declined somewhat: GPS numbers declined from 6,508 to 6,123, telephonic reporting declined from 15,645 to 15,278, and SmartLINK declined 296,041 to 290,317. But the most significant decline in ATD population reflects a decline in migrants on ATD but listed as “no tech”; these numbers declined from 57,837 to 43,422, a decline of 14,415. See more... |
| Corporate and White-Collar Prosecutions Hit New All-Time Lows in FY 2022 |
| (19 Jan 2023) The latest available case-by-case records from the Department of Justice (DOJ) show that the prosecution of white-collar offenders in FY 2022 reached a new all-time low since tracking began during the Reagan administration. During the last fiscal year which ended last September, only 4,180 white-collar defendants were prosecuted. White-collar prosecutions last year were lower than in any year during the Trump administration. FY 2022 figures are even lower than during FY 2020 when, due to the pandemic and federal partial shutdowns, federal criminal enforcement activities of all kinds were sharply curtailed. See more... |
| New Biden Administration Policies Impact Asylum for Four Nationalities |
| (18 Jan 2023) The Immigration Court backlog of asylum cases surpassed 800,000 for the first time at the end of December 2022. Pending Immigration Court cases of all types reached 2,056,328 at the end of last month, another all-time high. See more... |
| ICE Starts 2023 With 20,506 Immigrants in Detention, ICE Still Can't Find ATD Records |
| (09 Jan 2023) The federal government's use of immigrant detention fluctuated throughout 2022 without maintaining a clear increase or decrease according to data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the end of the calendar year. See more... |
| IRS Audits Few Millionaires But Targeted Many Low-Income Families in FY 2022 |
| (04 Jan 2023) Former President Trump was not alone in having returns he filed while he was President allegedly escape detailed scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Last year IRS revenue agents were only able to audit a small number of millionaire returns. Indeed, during FY 2022, the odds a millionaire was audited by an IRS revenue agent was just 1.1 percent. See more... |
| ICE Lacks Transparency: Asserts No Records Exist to Substantiate Its ATD Custody Claims |
| (23 Dec 2022) According to ICE's posted numbers, persons being monitored by its Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program grew by 20,000 in just the last two weeks to a total of 377,980 individuals. However, TRAC is still urging caution in interpreting these latest numbers. As we announced earlier, ICE has informed TRAC that Alternatives to Detention (ATD) data the agency posted previously was inaccurate. TRAC has requested but not yet received underlying source documents from ICE. Thus, it has not yet been able to validate and correct the ICE ATD data being posted. See more... |
| A Sober Assessment of the Growing U.S. Asylum Backlog |
| (22 Dec 2022) The latest available data reveal that the number of asylum seekers waiting for asylum hearings in the U.S. has now reached at least 1,565,966 individuals. About half of this total are waiting for hearings before judges in the Immigration Courts housed in the Department of Justice. The other half of asylum seekers are waiting for hearings before United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) asylum officers who are housed in the Department of Homeland Security. See more... |
| Immigration Court Completions Double While Backlog Passes 2 Million |
| (16 Dec 2022) The Immigration Court has been steadily increasing the pace of its hearings and case completions. As of the end of November 2022, the court had almost doubled the number of completed cases during just the first two months of FY 2023, as compared with the first two months of FY 2022. As of the end of November 2022, the Court had already closed 85,862 cases. This compares with the same time a year ago when it had completed 43,156 cases. See more... |
| ICE Posts Wrong Numbers on Alternatives to Detention (ATD) Monitoring |
| (14 Dec 2022) ICE has informed TRAC that Alternatives to Detention (ATD) data previously released by the agency on several occasions between August 2022 and December 2022, as well as data previously released for FY 2022, was inaccurate. TRAC therefore urges caution in interpreting the latest numbers ICE has just posted. See more... |
| A National Assessment of the Biden Administration's Dedicated Docket Initiative |
| (06 Dec 2022) The Immigration Court's Dedicated Docket (DD) program was created by the Biden administration to speed the processing of families seeking asylum after arriving along the Southwest Border. Over 110,000 DD cases covering each individual in these families have now been assigned to this initiative. To determine how this program is working, this report follows this cohort of nearly 40,000 of these cases that have now been closed. See more... |
| Speeding Up the Asylum Process Leads to Mixed Results |
| (29 Nov 2022) Latest case-by-case court records through October 2022 reveal that FY 2022 marked the largest number of individuals granted asylum in any year in the Immigration Court’s history. Grant rates averaged 46%, up from 36% in FY 2021. Not only were more asylum applications granted by Immigration Judges than ever before, but many asylum cases moved through the system faster due to a variety of Biden administration initiatives, including the Dedicated Docket. In this program, families seeking asylum were given expedited proceedings and moved to the head of the line, in front of those waiting in the Court’s existing 1,977,988 case backlog. See more... |
| ICE Alternatives to Detention Program Continues Its Expansion |
| (28 Nov 2022) According to data released today by ICE, the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, which currently houses single adults (mostly females) and is run by CoreCivic, continues to have the largest average daily population of detainees (1,590) in the country. See more... |
| ICE Detains More Individuals |
| (21 Nov 2022) The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, which currently houses single adults (mostly females) has more than doubled the number of individuals it is holding since September. ICE reports this facility run by CoreCivic now has the largest average daily population of detainees (1,562) in the country. See more... |
| Quality vs Quantity: How Does Sitting on the Dedicated Docket Impact the Judging Process? |
| (16 Nov 2022) The outcome for asylum seekers has long been influenced by the identity of the immigration judge assigned to hear their case. This continues to be true as documented by TRAC's just released judge-by-judge report series, now updated through FY 2022. In Arlington, Virginia, judge denial rates ranged from 15 percent to 95 percent. In Boston, judge denial rates varied from 17 percent to 93.5 percent. In Chicago, they ranged from 16 percent to 90 percent, while in San Francisco one judge denied just 1 percent of the cases while another denied 95 percent. See more... |
| Nearly 500,000 Immigrants Go Through ICE's Alternatives to Detention System in Two Years |
| (20 Oct 2022) According to new data obtained by TRAC through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, 480,301 people have been enrolled in ICE's electronic monitoring program known as Alternatives to Detention (ATD) between August 2020 and June 2022. Many of these individuals, about 196,000, were previously active in ATD but have since ceased to be monitored under ATD, while 284,000 immigrants were still in ATD as of the end of June. See more... |
| Insurance Lawsuits Skyrocket in Communities Hit Hard by Extreme Weather Events |
| (19 Oct 2022) Southwest Louisiana is home to the largest volume of civil insurance lawsuits in the country. More than one in five of the nearly 16,000 insurance lawsuits filed in federal court in the first eleven months of FY 2022 were filed in Lake Charles, Louisiana, a comparatively small community in southwest Louisiana devastated by Hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020. See more... |
| Over 63,000 DHS Cases Thrown Out of Immigration Court This Year Because No NTA Was Filed |
| (17 Oct 2022) As of the end of September 2022, Immigration Court judges dismissed a total of 63,586 cases because Department of Homeland Security officials, chiefly Border Patrol agents, are not filing the actual "Notice to Appear" (NTA) with the Immigration Court. Without a filed NTA, the Court has no jurisdiction to hear the case. See more... |
| Immigrants Monitored by ICE's Alternatives to Detention Program Vary by Nationality, Gender, and State |
| (11 Oct 2022) During the first year of the Biden administration, ICE's Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program grew rapidly from 86,548 at the end of December 2020 to 157,157 at the end of December 2021, attracting public interest and demonstrating the centrality of ATD to the Biden administration’s approach to immigration control. Despite these large—and growing—numbers made public by ICE through bi-weekly disclosures on its detention website, the public has seen little data about who has been enrolled in ATD. In this report, TRAC examines the growth of ATD during the first year of the Biden administration using detailed data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. See more... |
| ICE Increases Use of Ankle Monitors and Smartphones to Monitor Immigrants |
| (30 Sep 2022) The number of people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Alternative to Detention (ATD) program has officially crossed 300,000 people for the first time, reaching 316,700 according to data released this week. ICE’s ATD program has received heightened attention as growing numbers of migrants, many of whom are recent arrivals at the border, are now monitored through a smartphone app called SmartLINK, now reaching 255,602 people in total. See more... |
| Civil Court Filings for August 2022 Jump |
| (27 Sep 2022) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during August 2022 the government reported 29,635 new civil filings. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, this number is up 45.8% over the previous month when the number of civil filings of this type totaled 20,319. See more... |
| ICE’s Sloppy Public Data Releases Undermine Congress’s Transparency Mandate |
| (20 Sep 2022) ICE’s latest release of detention data is, once again, riddled with errors. ICE’s data on Alternatives to Detention wrongly reports enrollments of 96,574 people, because the agency mistakenly released data from May 2021 rather than September 2022. (The actual number is closer to 300,000.) ICE’s reported data on immigrant detention facilities shows a similar but even more egregious error: the recently released data is, in fact, for February of Fiscal Year 2020—over two years old. See more... |
| FY 2022 Seeing Rapid Increase in Immigration Court Completions |
| (16 Sep 2022) Immigration Court case completions have been rapidly increasing. During the first eleven months of FY 2022. Immigration Judges have closed over 375,000 cases — a historical record. If the pace continues, closures should top more than 400,000 by the end of the fiscal year. This is nearly three times as many case closures as last year. It is also roughly 50 percent higher than the previous high in FY 2019 during the Trump administration. See more... |
| Most Border Patrol Apprehensions are for Repeat Crossers, But Agency Data Doesn't Yet Provide the Full Picture |
| (09 Sep 2022) Using detailed government records, TRAC found that the percent of Border Patrol (BP) apprehensions that comprise repeat border crossers did not significantly increase when, under Title 42 , illegal border crossers were not penalized or sanctioned before they were expelled. This finding, based on data obtained from the Border Patrol by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, is contrary to agency contentions and arguments by policy analysts that immediate expulsions without applying meaningful sanctions such as criminal prosecution to repeat crossers encourages illegal reentry attempts. See more... |
| ICE Detention Numbers At Standstill Across the Board |
| (23 Aug 2022) The number of people in ICE custody typically fluctuates, and in recent months, ICE's Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program has grown tremendously to nearly 300,000. However, in August so far, ICE's numbers have become fairly static across the board. From the end of July, when ICE last released data until the middle of August, the total number of people on ATD has barely grown at all, hovering just below 300,000. ICE's detained population has remained between about 23,000 and 24,000 for the summer, despite reports of large numbers of migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border. See more... |
| How Often Do the FBI and the Department of Justice Seek Search Warrants and Subpoenas? |
| (22 Aug 2022) From January through June of this year, federal prosecutors made 883 applications to federal judges to authorize search warrants and issue subpoenas or a summons, according to the most current government records. A long list of federal agencies were the requesters, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation topped the rolls with 309 requests, 35 percent of the total. See more... |
| New Data Sheds Light on What Happens to People Found Inadmissible at U.S. Ports of Entry |
| (09 Aug 2022) People arriving at each of the more than 300 U.S. ports of entry must be inspected by Office of Field Operations (OFO) officers employed by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) before being allowed into the country. As a result of this inspection, over the past decade CBP officers working at ports of entry have determined over 3 million times that individuals before them were “inadmissible” because they lacked the proper authorization to enter the country. See more... |
| DHS Fails to File Paperwork Leading to Large Numbers of Dismissals |
| (29 Jul 2022) One out of every six new cases DHS initiates in Immigration Court are now being dismissed because CBP officials are not filing the actual "Notice to Appear" (NTA) with the Court. The latest case-by-case Court records obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University through a series of Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests show a dramatic increase in these cases. See more... |
| Fewer Immigrants Face Deportation Based on Criminal-Related Charges in Immigration Court |
| (28 Jul 2022) Over the past decade, the number of criminal-related charges listed on Notices to Appear as the basis for deportation has declined dramatically. In 2010, across all Notices to Appear (NTAs) received by the immigration courts that year, ICE listed a total of 57,199 criminal-related grounds for deportation. See more... |
| ICE Currently Holds 22,886 Immigrants in Detention, Alternatives to Detention Growth Increases to nearly 300,000 |
| (26 Jul 2022) According to the latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency held 22,886 immigrants in detention on July 17, 2022. Of these, 16,539 were arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The number of immigrants in detention who were arrested by ICE has been growing since the start of the year, from under 5,000 to 6,347 currently. The majority of detained immigrants—69 percent—do not have a criminal record. See more... |
| Pace of Immigration Court Processing Increases While Backlog Continues to Climb |
| (15 Jul 2022) The latest case-by-case records show that the Immigration Court backlog reached 1,821,440 at the end of June 2022. This is up 25 percent from the backlog just at the beginning of this fiscal year. These figures are based on the analysis of the latest court records obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. See more... |
| Government Inaction on Immigration Paperwork Leads to Record High Lawsuits |
| (13 Jul 2022) The federal government is facing a flurry of lawsuits for failing to take action on a variety of immigration-related applications. In May 2022, the federal civil courts recorded 647 immigration-related lawsuits for writs of mandamus (a type of lawsuit that seeks to compel the government to take a lawful action) and other immigration actions, the vast majority of which were linked to procedural delays or decisions by the Department of Homeland Security. This is the highest number of such cases filed in a single month since at least October 2007, the earliest date for which TRAC has data. At this rate, the courts will see 6,276 such cases by the end of this fiscal year in September, up from 4,347 in FY 2021. See more... |
| ICE Currently Holds 23,156 Immigrants in Detention, Alternatives to Detention Growth Slows |
| (11 Jul 2022) According to the latest data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency held 23,156 immigrants in detention on July 5, 2022. Of these, 17,116 were arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) while 6,040 were arrested by ICE agents. Detention numbers have increased slightly from about 20,000 in early 2022 to now hovering around 24,000, but have not otherwise seen significant growth that would lead to the large numbers of immigrants that were detained prior to the pandemic when the detained population topped out at more than 60,000. See more... |
| Criminal Immigration Referrals Up from the Border Patrol |
| (07 Jul 2022) The number of criminal referrals sent by the Border Patrol and other Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have recently begun to rise. Detailed case-by-case government records obtained by TRAC after successful litigation show that during April 2022, CBP referred 2,015 individuals for criminal prosecution to federal prosecutors. This is the first time referrals topped the 2,000 mark since the pandemic began slightly more than two years ago. Levels in April 2022 were up 31 percent from one year earlier when in April 2021 there were a total of 1,537 criminal referrals from CBP. See more... |
| Growing Numbers of Children Try To Enter the U.S. |
| (28 Jun 2022) New data obtained by TRAC from U.S. Border Patrol (BP) reveals a detailed portrait of the enormous growth in children encountered by BP officers at the US-Mexico border over the past fifteen years. Since FY 2008 there has been a seventeen-fold rise in the numbers of BP apprehensions who are unaccompanied children. With rising overall apprehensions, this represents a striking eight-fold increase just between FY 2008 and FY 2019 in the proportion of all apprehensions who are unaccompanied children. There has also been a striking five-fold rise in all children when both unaccompanied and accompanied children are considered. See more... |
| ICE Detains About 23,400 at End of June While Agency's Electronic Monitoring Program Grows to 280,000 |
| (23 Jun 2022) After hovering around 20,000 for several months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement's detained population reached 23,390 on June 19, 2022—down slightly from the start of the month but still higher than in previous months. About three-quarters (74 percent) of people in detention were arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The number of immigrants arrested by ICE saw a modest but steady increase up to a total of 5,979. The number of immigrants in detention who were arrested by ICE has been under 6,000 since March 2021. See more... |
| 5,000 Asylum-Seekers Added to the Migrant Protection Protocols 2.0, Few Are Granted Asylum |
| (14 Jun 2022) During the last six months, over 5,000 asylum seekers have been required to remain in Mexico under the current implementation of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP)—also known as MPP 2.0—while awaiting their Immigration Court hearings. Cases in MPP are generally being completed within the 180-day time frame set by the administration, but the problem with low rates of access to attorneys and unusually low rates of asylum success that plagued the first implementation of MPP continue this year. See more... |
| Immigrant Detention Numbers on Their Way Back Up After Pandemic Slump? |
| (10 Jun 2022) After hovering around 20,000 for several months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement's detained population reached 24,591 at the start of June. Most of the people in detention (76 percent or 18,796) were arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). But immigrants arrested by ICE—a total of 5,795—were at the highest number since March 2021. These numbers could signify a slow return to pre-pandemic levels of immigration detention along with a parallel growth of immigrants monitored by ICE's Alternatives to Detention program. See more... |
| New ICE Data Show Both Immigrants Detained and Monitored on ATD Increase in May |
| (24 May 2022) According to the most current data, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) held 22,281 immigrants in detention on May 7, 2022, the highest number in detention since the beginning of 2022 (although still smaller than the summer of 2021 when the number exceeded 27,000). See more... |
| Ukrainians at the U.S.-Mexico Border: Seeking Admission at U.S. Ports of Entry by Nationality |
| (17 May 2022) Last month in April a total of 20,994 Ukrainians seeking safety from the war ravaging their homeland turned up at U.S. ports of entry and were stopped at the border as "inadmissibles" without the necessary official documents which might authorize their entry into the U.S. Arrivals from Ukraine averaged 700 per day during April. This includes individuals allowed into the country on humanitarian parole. The majority (60%) arrived in family groups with children. Just over 100 children arrived as unaccompanied minors. The remainder arrived as single adults or as couples without children. See more... |
| More Than 225,000 Immigrants Monitored by ICE's Alternatives to Detention Technology |
| (28 Apr 2022) According to new data available in TRAC's Quick Facts detention data tool, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is now monitoring 227,508 immigrants using 'alternatives to detention' (ATD) technology. The most common ATD technology used by ICE is SmartLINK, a smartphone app, with more than 172,000 people (or more than 75 percent of all people on ICE's ATD caseload) monitored by this technology. See more... |
| TRAC Releases New Tool for Tracking Deportation Cases, Includes 'Crimmigration' Data |
| (19 Apr 2022) TRAC is excited to announce a new online, interactive data tool that allows the public to view detailed information about new deportation cases filed in Immigration Court each month. TRAC's "New Deportation Proceedings" tool, which has been updated with data through the end of March 2022, provides unprecedented insight into the 384,000 new deportation cases that have been added to court in FY 2022 so far. See more... |
| Immigrant Detention Numbers Dip Below 20,000 for the Third Time This Year |
| (14 Apr 2022) According to new data available in TRAC's Quick Facts detention data tool, immigration enforcement and detention numbers have remained relatively consistent in recent weeks except for notable growth in the number of migrants monitored by ICE's Alternatives to Detention program. At the beginning of April 2022, ICE held 18,846 immigrants in detention centers across the country, falling under 20,000 for the third time this year. See more... |
| Number of Migrants on ICE's Alternatives to Detention Program Crosses 200,000 For the First Time |
| (31 Mar 2022) According to new data available in TRAC's Quick Facts detention data tool, immigration enforcement and detention numbers have remained consistent in recent weeks except for notable growth in the number of migrants monitored by ICE's Alternatives to Detention program. On March 27, 2022, ICE held 20,733 immigrants in detention centers across the country, up very slightly from 20,146 at the beginning of the month. See more... |
| IRS Continues Targeting Poorest Families for More Tax Audits During FY 2022 |
| (29 Mar 2022) The latest Internal Revenue Service (IRS) statistics covering federal income tax audits through February of 2022 reveals that the agency is continuing to target audits on the poorest wage earners. So far it has completed 132,922 audits of these low-income wage earners with less than $25,000 in total gross receipts. This is up from 105,978 audits IRS had completed a year ago at the end of February 2021. See more... |
| Immigrant Detention Numbers Remain Low, Alternatives to Detention Growth Slows |
| (18 Mar 2022) According to new data available in TRAC’s Quick Facts detention data tool, immigration enforcement and detention numbers remained remarkably flat in recent weeks. On March 13, 2022, ICE held just over 20,000 immigrants in detention centers across the country, up slightly from about 18,000 at the end of February but consistent with numbers all the way back to September 2021. See more... |
| One-Third of New Immigration Court Cases Are Children; One in Eight Are 0-4 Years of Age |
| (17 Mar 2022) Almost one-third of all new cases in Immigration Court are juveniles. Case-by-case Immigration Court records updated through February 2022 indicate that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued 310,359 Notices to Appear (NTA) so far during fiscal year 2022 (October 2021-February 2022). Where age is recorded, 81,080 or 31 percent of these immigrants were from 0 to 17 years of age at the time DHS issued the NTA. These counts underestimate the actual number of children since for an additional 15 percent the age was unknown. See more... |
| Veteran Journalist and Lawyer Elizabeth Stawicki Joins TRAC as Inaugural Patricia Hassett Legal Fellow |
| (11 Mar 2022) TRAC is excited to announce that Elizabeth Stawicki joined our team in January 2022 as the inaugural recipient of the Patricia Hassett Legal Fellowship. The Hassett Fellowship was created in honor of the life and legacy of Patricia Hassett (1941-2009), the first female faculty member at Syracuse University's College of Law and an active supporter of TRAC's work. See more... |
| Prosecutions for National Security/Terrorism and Domestic Terrorism Remain High in FY 2022 |
| (10 Mar 2022) More than a year after the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, the number of federal prosecutions that fall under the charge group of "terrorism/national internal security" remains high. According to case-by-case data on federal prosecutions from the Justice Department obtained after successful court litigation by TRAC through the Freedom of Information Act, 233 such charges have been filed in the first four months of FY 2022 (October 2021 to January 2022). See more... |
| IRS Audits Poorest Families at Five Times the Rate for Everyone Else |
| (08 Mar 2022) A large increase in federal income tax audits targeting the poorest wage earners allowed the Internal Revenue Service to keep overall audit numbers from further declines for Americans as a whole during FY 2021. That resulted in these low-income wage earners with less than $25,000 in total gross receipts being audited at a rate five times higher than for everyone else. See more... |
| Latest ICE Data Show Significant Investment in Alternatives to Detention |
| (04 Mar 2022) According to new data available in an TRAC Quick Facts detention data tool, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) held 17,984 immigrants in detention on February 27, 2022, the lowest number since May 2021. Immigrant detention facilities in Texas, Louisiana, and Arizona held the largest numbers of immigrants. See more... |
| Over 180,000 Immigrants Now Monitored by ICE's Alternatives to Detention Program |
| (28 Feb 2022) The number of migrants monitored by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Alternatives to Detention program has more than doubled since the start of the Biden administration, from around 87,000 people in January 2021 to nearly 183,000 in February 2022. See more... |
| ICE Detentions Decline in February While Numbers In Alternatives to Detention Programs Climb |
| (17 Feb 2022) New data available in TRAC's immigrant detention Quick Facts tool shows that the number of individuals held in ICE detention declined during the past four weeks – down by 938 and falling below 20,000 as of February 13, 2022. See more... |
| The Continuing Impact of The Pandemic on Immigration Court Case Completions |
| (11 Feb 2022) As of the end of January 2022, the pace of Immigration Court work continues to lag as a result of the pandemic. There have been not only fewer case completions, but the average time required to dispose of each case has doubled since before the pandemic began. See more... |
| TRAC Updates Immigrant Detention Quick Facts Tools |
| (28 Jan 2022) New data available in TRAC's immigrant detention Quick Facts tool shows that the number of people enrolled in ICE's 'alternatives to detention' program has reached nearly 165,000 people, nearly double the number of people from the beginning of the Biden administration when that number stood at 87,000. This is related, in part, to the fact that the total number of people ICE detains on a daily basis has not increased, but remained steady at around 22,000 since the start of the fiscal year in October 2021. See more... |
| While Definition of Terrorism Fuzzy, Spike in These Prosecutions in 2021 Continues into FY 2022 |
| (19 Jan 2022) US federal prosecutors have filed more prosecutions that fall under the charge group of “terrorism/national internal security” in FY 2021 than any year since the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. According to case-by-case data on federal prosecutions from the Justice Department obtained after successful court litigation by TRAC through the Freedom of Information Act, 717 such charges were filed between October 2020 and September 2021—the highest since FY 2005. See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Now Growing Faster Than Ever, Burying Judges in an Avalanche of Cases |
| (18 Jan 2022) The U.S. Immigration Court system is currently staring up a mountain of pending cases that at the end of December 2021 reached 1,596,193 — the largest in history. If every person with a pending immigration case were gathered together it would be larger than the population of Philadelphia, the sixth largest city in the United States. Previous administrations — all the way back through at least the George W. Bush administration — have failed when they tried to tackle the seemingly intractable problem of the Immigration Court "backlog." See more... |
| ICE Detains 22,000 Immigrants at Start of 2022, Monitors 157,000 on Alternatives to Detention Program |
| (13 Jan 2022) According to new data available through TRAC's 'Quick Facts' tools, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is holding about 22,000 immigrants in civil detention centers across the country at the beginning of January. Over the past several months, the number of immigrants in detention at a single point in time has remained consistently lower than July, when ICE reported over 27,000 immigrants in detention. See more... |
| Unrepresented Families Seeking Asylum on "Dedicated Docket" Ordered Deported by Immigration Courts |
| (13 Jan 2022) According to the latest case-by-case records through December 2021 from the Immigration Courts, over 72,000 cases involving asylum seeking families have been assigned to the Court's "Dedicated Docket" (DD) initiative. These cases made up nearly one in five (18%) of all new Notices to Appear (NTAs) filed at the Court during this period. Already 12 percent of the DD cases have been completed according to Court records. See more... |
| Multidistrict Litigation Drives Large Numbers of Cases Handled by Federal Civil Judges |
| (06 Jan 2022) Federal civil cases involve legal disputes between two or more parties. Nationally, there were 531,164 civil cases awaiting resolution before U.S. district court judges at the end of December 2020. Over the same year, federal judges completed 242,657 civil cases. See more... |
| Number of Immigrants Monitored by ICE's 'Alternatives to Detention' Programs Reaches 150,000 |
| (04 Jan 2022) According to the most current data, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) held 20,623 immigrants in detention on December 19, 2021, down slightly from nearly 22,000 at the beginning of that month. Most of the detainees—about 75 percent—had no criminal record at the time other than an immigration charge, a trend that has consistently hovered between 73 and 80 percent since May 2021. See more... |
| A Closer Look at 20 Years of Asylum Data: Half of Applicants Successful, but 670,000 Cases Still Pending |
| (22 Dec 2021) According to case-by-case records from the Immigration Courts, Immigration Judges completed close to one million cases where immigrants had applied for asylum since FY 2001. For completed cases, half of all applicants were ultimately successful in their quest to legally remain in the United States. Adding in the asylum grants by Asylum Officers in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), almost two-thirds (64%) of asylum seekers in the 1.3 million completed cases have been successful over the past two decades. See more... |
| Immigration Courts Now Face Backlog of Over 1.5 Million Cases |
| (20 Dec 2021) According to data updated today by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, the number of pending cases in Immigration Court has now reached 1,559,855 as of the end of November 2021. The high number of pending cases puts additional pressure on Immigration Judges who are tasked with deciding these cases. See more... |
| Immigrants Now Held in ICE Detention Drop |
| (15 Dec 2021) Immigrants now being held in detention are substantially down. This is despite the fact that the total number of people booked into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers increased to 32,771 for the month of November, driven almost entirely by arrests by Customs and Border Protections while arrests by ICE remain low. See more... |
| Civil Lawsuits Filed By Veterans in North Florida Makes Up One Third of New Suits Nationwide |
| (10 Dec 2021) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during October 2021 the government reported 29,890 new civil filings. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Asylum Success Varies Widely Across Immigration Judges |
| (09 Dec 2021) The United States has received a large number of asylum-seekers in recent years, and the responsibility of deciding many of those cases falls on the shoulders of Immigration Judges. TRAC analyzed 223,469 total asylum decisions from 62 Immigration Courts and 492 Immigration Judges for six fiscal years from 2016 and 2021 and found See more... |
| The Impact of Nationality, Language, Gender and Age on Asylum Success |
| (07 Dec 2021) Under the new Biden administration asylum seekers are seeing greater success in securing asylum in Immigration Court. While asylum grant rates declined during the Trump years to a low of just 29 percent in FY 2020, they climbed to 37 percent during FY 2021 after President Biden assumed office. This finding discussed in the first report of a two-part series, is examined in greater detail in this second report which focus on asylum success rates for different nationalities, languages, gender and age groups. See more... |
| Immigration Court's Data on Minors Facing Deportation is Too Faulty to Be Trusted |
| (02 Dec 2021) After careful analysis and consideration, TRAC is forced to suspend its publication of data on juveniles facing deportation in Immigration Court due to serious, unresolved deficiencies in the EOIR's data. TRAC's analyses indicate that the data used by the Immigration Court for tracking and reporting on juveniles who are facing deportation appear to be seriously flawed to the point See more... |
| TRAC Releases New Asylum Data Tools, Adds Data on Gender, Language, and Age |
| (30 Nov 2021) The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University released two brand new interactive asylum data tools that allow users to view detailed data on asylum applications and the asylum backlog in Immigration Court. TRAC also added detailed information on gender, language, and age—valuable information that is of considerable public interest—to its new and existing asylum tools. See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Nears 1.5 Million Cases |
| (15 Nov 2021) Including nearly 50,000 new deportation cases filed in Immigration Court in just October 2021, the total pending cases in the Immigration Courts now reaches 1,486,495 according to TRAC's updated Quick Facts tools. Immigration Judges completed 21,154 cases in October, less than half of the total new cases coming into the courts, which means the total backlog continues to grow each month. See more... |
| Asylum Grant Rates Climb Under Biden |
| (10 Nov 2021) Under the new Biden administration, asylum seekers are seeing greater success rates in securing asylum. While relief grant rates had fallen ever lower during the Trump years to just 29 percent in FY 2020, they rose to 37 percent in FY 2021 under President Biden. See more... |
| ICE Now Monitors Record High Numbers of Immigrants on "Alternatives to Detention" Program |
| (03 Nov 2021) According to new data available through TRAC's 'Quick Facts' tools, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now monitoring more than 136,000 immigrants on "Alternatives to Detention" (ATD) programs. ICE is now using a technology called SmartLink to monitor the bulk of immigrants enrolled in these programs. See more... |
| Federal Immigration Prosecutions at Record Lows |
| (01 Nov 2021) New data released by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University show that the number of immigration-related criminal prosecutions in federal court remains remarkably low in FY 2021, partly as a result of the Title 42 policy that has turned back migrants at the border under both the Trump and Biden administrations. See more... |
| Product Liability Cases Up, Habeas Corpus Petitions Down Says New Data on Federal Civil Lawsuits |
| (28 Oct 2021) New data on federal civil litigation from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) show that the wave of veteran lawsuits against 3M for defective earplugs is back up while the number of habeas corpus petitions filed for detained immigrants is at its lowest point in at least five years. See more... |
| Number of New Deportation Cases Far Outpaces Completed Cases in FY 2021 |
| (14 Oct 2021) According to TRAC’s updated Quick Facts tools, the number of new deportation cases filed with the Courts in FY 2021–over 315,000–is more than double the number of completed cases over the same period which, according to Immigration Court records, currently sits at less that 145,000. See more... |
| TRAC Updates Immigrant Detention Quick Facts Tools |
| (05 Oct 2021) According to new data available in an TRAC new easy-to-read ‘Quick Facts’ tools, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is holding 22,129 immigrants in detention, down from more than 27,000 reported at the beginning of July The total number of people booked into ICE detention centers in September fell for those arrested at the border but increased for ICE interior arrests. See more... |
| The Impact of the Identity of the Judge on Sentencing |
| (30 Sep 2021) The changed makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court and the influence of recent appointments on the outcome of cases the Court hears has been the focus of a great deal of recent public attention. It should not be surprising that the identity of a judge can impact decision outcome from the Supreme Court all the way down to trial court sentencing decisions. See more... |
| Elizabeth Holmes Trial Coincides with Rise in Wire Fraud Prosecutions |
| (27 Sep 2021) On June 14, 2018, Elizabeth Holmes and Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani were indicted in the Northern District of California for wire fraud (8 USC 1343) and conspiracy to commit wire fraud (18 USC 1349) in their respective roles at the Theranos Corporation. See more... |
| One Year After Hurricane Laura, Louisiana Plaintiffs Rush to Meet One-Year Insurance Filing Deadline in Federal Court |
| (17 Sep 2021) In August 2021, a total of 774 civil insurance lawsuits were filed in federal court in the Western District of Louisiana. Most of them—706—were filed in Lake Charles, a community devastated by Hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020 as well as by flooding, ice storms, and the COVID-19 over the past year. See more... |
| Decline in the Number of People Held in Detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) |
| (14 Sep 2021) According to new data available in an TRAC new easy-to-read 'Quick Facts' tools, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is holding 23,014 immigrants in detention, down from more than 27,000 reported in early July. The overall number is down even though the number of people booked into detention centers actually increased in August to nearly 30,000, up from as low as 7,000 in February. These data reflect overall shorter stays in detention. See more... |
| Immigration Court Struggling to Manage Its Expanding Dedicated Docket of Asylum-Seeking Families |
| (13 Sep 2021) During the month of August, the Biden administration stepped up the assignment of asylum-seeking families arriving at the border to the Immigration Court's new "Dedicated Docket" program. As of August 31, 2021, Immigration Court records indicate that a total of 16,713 individuals comprising approximately 6,000 families are now assigned to this program. See more... |
| Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Now Monitors About 118,000 Immigrants Through Its Alternatives to Detention Program |
| (02 Sep 2021) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is monitoring record numbers of immigrants through its "Alternatives to Detention" programs that rely on GPS monitors, smartphone technology, and telephonic reporting to monitor immigrants awaiting the outcome of their deportation cases. According to data updated today by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse in its 'Quick Facts' tools, a total of 117,682 people are currently enrolled in Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Alternatives to Detention program, up from about 87,000 a year ago at the end of August 2020. See more... |
| Tax Lawsuits Half Levels of a Decade Ago |
| (31 Aug 2021) The number of civil tax lawsuits filed in federal court remains steady, but are only half the number of a decade ago according to data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a research institute at Syracuse University. This decline is likely due to severe funding and staffing cuts imposed on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by Congress which has caused a sharp reduction in IRS audits and collection enforcement. See more... |
| Environmental Prosecutions from Investigations by EPA and Interior Department Continue to Decline |
| (24 Aug 2021) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first ten months of FY 2021 the government reported 182 new environment prosecutions. If this activity continues at the same pace, the annual total of prosecutions will be down 7.6 percent over the past fiscal year and down 44.5 percent from just five years ago. Declines are even larger when compared with federal environmental prosecutions from ten and twenty years ago. See more... |
| FOIA Project's Brief Bank Adds Nearly 1,000 Court Documents in FOIA Lawsuits |
| (20 Aug 2021) TRAC has seen significant growth in its FOIA Brief Bank by building relationships with FOIA attorneys across the country and ensuring these attorneys have a trusted outlet for their work. Since June of 2021, TRAC's summer legal interns have uploaded 984 documents to the FOIA Project's Brief Bank, contributed by 19 litigators across 27 different cases. See more... |
| 5,000 Immigrants Assigned to Biden Administration's New "Dedicated Docket" for Asylum Seeking Families |
| (17 Aug 2021) According to the latest case-by-case court data, the Immigration Court has recorded placing 4,866 people comprising approximately 1,700 families onto their Dedicated Docket. Announced as a new Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice joint initiative on May 28, 2021, the stated goal of the Dedicated Docket is to speed the hearing and resolution of family cases. See more... |
| Number of Immigrants in ICE Detention Declines Again This Week to 25,526 |
| (13 Aug 2021) The number of people in immigrant detention had been growing during the Biden administration but has declined for the past month according to data updated today by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse in its 'Quick Facts' tools. A total of 25,526 are currently being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, down from 27,217 in early July. See more... |
| Civil Voting Rights Lawsuits Filed in June 2021 |
| (10 Aug 2021) While the number of civil voting rights cases are down since the spurt of such filings surrounding the 2020 elections, they are beginning to climb again. The latest available data from the federal courts show that during June 2021 the government reported 15 new civil rights voting lawsuits filed. See more... |
| White-Collar Crime Prosecutions for 2021 Continue Long Term Decline |
| (09 Aug 2021) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first nine months of FY 2021 the government reported 3,545 new white-collar crime prosecutions. If this activity continues at the same pace, the annual total of prosecutions will be 4,727 for this fiscal year. See more... |
| Judge Hauls Officials Into Court After ICE Refuses to Comply With Court Order |
| (05 Aug 2021) In an unusual move, U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta, a federal judge for the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., rebuked Immigration and Customs Enforcement for “thumbing its nose” at the court in a highly consequential Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by the co-directors of TRAC. At a hearing on July 29, 2021, the judge ordered senior officials to personally appear before him on the following Wednesday, August 4, 2021 to address his questions. See more... |
| Immigration Court Cases Jump in June 2021; Delays Double This Year |
| (28 Jul 2021) The number of new deportation cases filed by the Biden administration is on the rise. Deportation orders sought by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) jumped by nearly 50 percent in June, compared with the number filed in May. See more... |
| Number of Immigrants in ICE Detention Declines Slightly This Week to 26,771 |
| (23 Jul 2021) The number of people in immigrant detention has been growing during the Biden administration but declined slightly this week according to data updated today by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse in its ‘Quick Facts’ tools. A total of 26,771 are currently being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention. See more... |
| Number of Immigrants in ICE Detention On the Rise |
| (08 Jul 2021) The number of people in immigrant detention is growing according to data updated today by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse in its 'Quick Facts' tools. A total of 27,217 are currently being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, up from less than 14,000 at the end of March 2021. See more... |
| Recent Spike in Federal Criminal Prosecutions on Indian Lands |
| (01 Jul 2021) According to government case-by-case records analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), the number of federal prosecutions of violent crimes in Indian Country jumped after the July 2020 landmark Supreme Court decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma. The Court held that large swaths of Oklahoma were still under the jurisdiction of the Creek Nation of Indians, and that as a result, only federal law enforcement officers—not state and local officers—had jurisdiction to prosecute major crimes in what the federal government designates as Indian Lands. See more... |
| 26,222 People in Immigrant Detention New Data Show |
| (30 Jun 2021) The Transactional Research Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) a research organization at Syracuse University created "Quick Facts" tools to provide a user-friendly way to see the most updated data available on immigrant detention and the immigration courts. The tools include easy-to-understand data in context and provide quotable descriptions. See more... |
| Civil Immigration Suits Continue to Rise |
| (29 Jun 2021) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during May 2021 the government reported 467 new civil immigration filings. All but one were suits filed in which the federal government or its officials were the defendant. According to the case-by-case court records analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, this number is up 4.0 percent over the previous month when the number of civil filings of this type totaled 449. See more... |
| How Many Pending Deportation Cases are There in Your State? TRAC's Updated Mapping Tool Has the Answer |
| (28 Jun 2021) According to Immigration Court data obtained by TRAC, the total immigration court backlog is currently 1,337,372 pending cases. However, those cases are not distributed evenly across the country and representation rates — one of the most important factors in case outcomes — varies widely. See more... |
| MPP Transfers Into United States Slow and Nationality Inequities Emerge |
| (17 Jun 2021) As of the end of May 2021, a total of 10,375 individuals formerly forced to remain in Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) have been able to enter the United States since President Biden ended this Trump-era program. Rather than accelerating in May, however, the pace of recorded transfers actually appears to have dramatically slowed. See more... |
| TRAC Updates Immigrant Detention Quick Fact Tools With New Data |
| (02 Jun 2021) The Transactional Research Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) a research organization at Syracuse University created "Quick Facts" tools to provide a user-friendly way to see the most updated data available on immigrant detention and the immigration courts. The tools include easy-to-understand data in context and provide quotable descriptions. See more... |
| Criminal Prosecutions Referred by EPA in Long-Term Decline |
| (25 May 2021) The latest available data from the Department of Justice show that during the first seven months of FY 2021 the government reported just 32 new prosecutions referred by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). If this activity continues at the same pace, the annual total of defendants prosecuted will be 55 for this fiscal year. See more... |
| Despite Crippling Student Loan Debt, Government Rarely Sues to Recover Defaulted Federal Loans |
| (17 May 2021) Despite student loan debt now topping $1.7 trillion dollars, the latest case-by-case court records analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University show that civil suits filed to recover federal student loan debt have become increasingly rare even before pandemic relief provided a collection moratorium. See more... |
| Now Over 8,000 MPP Cases Transferred Into United States Under Biden |
| (11 May 2021) As of the end of April 2021, a total of 8,387 individuals formerly forced to remain in Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) have been able to enter the United States since President Biden ended this Trump-era program. TRAC previously reported that by the end of March 3,911 individuals had been allowed to enter the U.S. under a phased process. See more... |
| TRAC Updates Immigrant Detention Quick Fact Tools With New Data |
| (05 May 2021) TRAC's immigration "Quick Facts" tools provide a user-friendly way to see the most updated data available on immigrant detention and the immigration courts. TRAC's quick tools provide the most recent data TRAC has assembled on a variety of topics, from the current immigration court backlog to ICE's most recent detention statistics. The tools include easy-to-understand data in context and provide quotable descriptions. See more... |
| Official Corruption Prosecutions Have Increased |
| (04 May 2021) The latest available data from the Department of Justice show that during the first six months of FY 2021 the government reported 236 new official corruption prosecutions. If this activity continues at the same pace, the annual total of prosecutions will be 472 for this fiscal year. This estimate is up 38 percent over the past fiscal year when the number of prosecutions totaled 342 according to the internal case-by-case government records obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University after successful litigation under the Freedom of Information Act. See more... |
| Securities and Commodities Exchange Litigation Reaches New High In March 2021 |
| (30 Apr 2021) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during March 2021, the government reported 269 new securities and commodities exchange civil filings based upon the recorded nature of the suit. According to the case-by-case court records analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, this is the highest number of such filings for a single month on record going back to at least October 2007 and just edging out the previous high of 262 in September 2020. See more... |
| 40 Languages Spoken Among Asylum Seekers with Pending MPP Cases |
| (26 Apr 2021) At least 40 different languages are spoken by the nearly 30,000 migrants with pending MPP cases according to case-by-case court data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. These include languages indigenous to Central America, such as Mam and K'iche', Quechua (which is spoken in regions of South America), and sign languages from Spanish-speaking parts of Latin America. See more... |
| Nearly 4,000 MPP Cases Transferred Out of MPP Courts Under Biden, But Most Cases Still Remain In Mexico |
| (21 Apr 2021) Using the latest case-by-case records from the Immigration Court, TRAC found that cases for 3,911 people out of a total of 26,432 MPP cases pending at the end of January 2021 have been transferred into the interior of the U.S. so far during the Biden administration. See more... |
| Domestic Terrorism Cases on the Rise in February Following the January 6 Breach of the Capitol Building |
| (14 Apr 2021) In February 2021, according to federal internal case-by-case records on prosecutions obtained after successful court litigation by TRAC, there were 57 prosecutions of domestic terrorism filed in the federal district courts. See more... |
| Millionaires and Corporate Giants Escape IRS Audits Again in FY 2020 |
| (18 Mar 2021) At a time when Americans face growing economic inequality and financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is letting billions of dollars in tax revenue slip through its fingers because budget and staffing cuts have left the agency incapable of fairly and effectively auditing the 637,212 millionaires now living in the United States. See more... |
| Immigrant Detention Numbers Fall Under Biden, But Border Book-Ins Rise |
| (15 Mar 2021) As of the end of President Biden's first full month in office, the number of individuals arrested by ICE and booked into civil immigrant detention fell sharply from 5,119 ICE book-in arrests during January 2021 to just 1,970 during February 2021. According to the latest ICE figures, this was a drop of 62 percent just in a single month. See more... |
| Immigrants Facing Deportation Wait Twice as Long in FY 2021 Compared to FY 2020 |
| (12 Feb 2021) The latest available case-by-case Immigrant Court records show that immigration cases that were completed in the first four months of FY 2021 took nearly twice as long from beginning to end as cases completed in the first four months of FY 2020. Cases that were completed between the beginning of October 2020 and the end of January 2021 took, on average, 859 days compared to 436 days over the same period a year before. See more... |
| Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied: Judges Fail To Rule in a Timely Manner on FOIA Cases |
| (03 Feb 2021) The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was passed to ensure the public's right to know what their government was doing. Response delays have become a perennial problem. Federal officials increasingly ignore FOIA deadlines for responding, forcing FOIA requesters to take them to court. As a result, the number of FOIA lawsuits have been rising because federal agencies were often not responding at all. See more... |
| TRAC Updates New Immigration 'Quick Facts' Feature |
| (28 Jan 2021) Our new Quick Facts feature has just been updated with the latest data on ICE detention. The total number of people held in immigration detention continued to decline to 14,195 as of January 22, 2021. Of these detainees, 4,053 or 28.6 percent have no criminal record and many more have only minor offenses including traffic violations. See more... |
| Fraudulent Applicants for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and a Surge in Criminal Referrals from Small Business Administration |
| (27 Jan 2021) The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) made more criminal referrals to federal prosecutors at the Department of Justice in FY 2020—a total of 91—than any year in the past two decades. Referrals began increasing in April 2020 after efforts began to identify those who submitted fraudulent bank loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) established by the CARES Act. SBA referrals also remained higher than usual during the first three months of FY 2021 (October - December 2020). See more... |
| Trump Leaves Biden 1.3 Million Case Backlog in Immigration Courts |
| (19 Jan 2021) When President Donald Trump assumed office, 542,411 people had deportation cases pending before the Immigration Courts. At the start of 2021, that number now stands at 1,290,766—nearly two and a half times the level when Trump assumed office just four years ago. See more... |
| When FOIA Goes to Court: 20 Years of Freedom of Information Act Litigation by News Organizations and Reporters |
| (13 Jan 2021) In 2020, news organizations and individual reporters filed 122 different Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits to compel disclosure of federal government records—more than any year on record according to federal court data back to 2001 analyzed by the FOIA Project. In fact, the media alone have filed a total of 386 FOIA cases during the four years of the Trump Administration, from 2017 through 2020. See more... |
| Domestic Terrorism Prosecutions Reach All-Time High in FY 2020 |
| (11 Jan 2021) Because of the January 6 attack on the Capitol, the public is highly interested in government's wider enforcement response to acts of domestic terrorism. In fact, last year in the wake of protests surrounding the death of George Floyd at the hands of police, there has been a large jump in federal prosecutions classified as domestic terrorism. See more... |
| Civil Lawsuits Decline Overall in October 2020 but Social Security Suits Reach Record Highs |
| (22 Dec 2020) Civil filings in federal court declined in October 2020. New filings had continued to grow during the first part of calendar year 2020 reaching a peak of nearly 60,000 in June, even as federal criminal prosecutions amid the pandemic declined. See more... |
| Immigration Court Case Completion Times Jump as Delays Lengthen |
| (21 Dec 2020) Not surprisingly, Immigration Court closures and delays in hearings for courts that are conducting hearings have drastically reduced the number of completed cases for the first two months of this fiscal year as compared with prior years at the same time. See more... |
| Major Swings in Immigration Criminal Prosecutions during Trump Administration |
| (18 Dec 2020) Immigration enforcement policies enacted by the Trump administration along the U.S.-Mexico border has contributed to notable fluctuations in the number of immigration-related prosecutions in federal courts since January 2017. See more... |
| FY 2021 Begins with Largest Immigration Court Backlog on Record |
| (24 Nov 2020) Fiscal Year 2021 began with the largest number of Immigration Court cases in its active backlog to date: in October, 1,273,885 immigration cases were pending before the courts. Most of the pending cases—918,673 or 72 percent—involved nationals from Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and El Salvador. See more... |
| Securities and Commodities Exchange Litigation Reaches All-Time High in September 2020 |
| (10 Nov 2020) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during September 2020, the government reported 262 new securities and commodities exchange civil filings based upon the recorded nature of the suit. This is the highest number of such filings for a single month on record going back to at least October 2007. See more... |
| Beyond Asylum: Deportation Relief During the Trump Administration |
| (29 Oct 2020) The latest case-by-case court records show that Immigration Judges completed 1,075,578 deportation cases thus far during the Trump Administration. Of these, 395,244 immigrants (37%) submitted applications for what is commonly known as "relief from deportation"—or simply "relief"—to the Immigration Court. If approved, an application for relief generally allows an immigrant to remain in the country and may provide a path to temporary or permanent status in the United States. See more... |
| Asylum Denial Rates Continue to Climb in 2020 - Judge-by-Judge Details |
| (28 Oct 2020) Despite the partial court shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, this year immigration judges managed to issue the second highest number of asylum decisions in the last two decades. The rate of denial continued to climb to a record high of 72 percent, up from 55 percent during the last year of the Obama Administration in FY 2016. See more... |
| Child Sex Trafficking Prosecutions Fall During Trump Administration |
| (26 Oct 2020) The latest available case-by-case federal government records show that in September 2020 federal prosecutors brought criminal charges against eleven (11) individuals for child sex trafficking under 18 USC 1591. Altogether in FY 2020, the federal government reports 180 new prosecutions where child sex trafficking was the lead charge. See more... |
| MPP Cases Highest Since Start of Pandemic |
| (20 Oct 2020) According to Immigration Court records obtained by TRAC, the number of new deportation cases under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) is on the rise after a year of month-over-month declines. Also known as "Remain in Mexico," under MPP individuals seeking asylum at the country's southwest border have been sent back to Mexico to await their immigration hearings. See more... |
| The Pandemic and ICE Use of Detainers in FY 2020 |
| (19 Oct 2020) The pandemic appears to have caused only a temporary and modest drop in detainer usage by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). By mid-April detainer usage already started climbing back up. These figures are based on the latest detainer-by-detainer internal ICE records, updated through June 2020, obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. See more... |
| Few Immigration Criminal Prosecutions, While Non-Immigration Prosecutions Rebound |
| (22 Sep 2020) Federal criminal prosecutions nationally have now largely returned to the pace that prevailed before the pandemic hit and federal offices closed in mid-March across the country. This is true except for prosecutions for immigration offenses which have not returned to their pre-pandemic levels. See more... |
| Many More Voting Rights Lawsuits Filed in 2020 Than in 2016 |
| (21 Sep 2020) With the lead up to the November elections, voting rights litigation in the federal courts has been climbing. During August 2020, a total of 31 new lawsuits were filed. Thus far during FY 2020, a period of eleven months, there have been a total of 202 new voting rights lawsuits. See more... |
| COVID-19 Pandemic Drives up Immigration Court Backlog and Delays |
| (18 Sep 2020) The partial shutdown of the Immigration Court in the wake of COVID-19 continues to impact hundreds of thousands of immigrants awaiting their day in court. The current active court case backlog as of the end of August 2020 has grown to 1,246,164—up 11 percent from the beginning of March when the backlog was 1,122,824. See more... |
| After EOIR Fixes Most Egregious Data Errors, TRAC Releases New Asylum Data - But with a Warning |
| (16 Sep 2020) TRAC will begin once again releasing asylum data received from the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). After repeatedly uncovering issues in the quality of EOIR's data, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a research data center at Syracuse University that studies the federal government, published its first report describing the problems it had uncovered. See more... |
| The Life and Death of Administrative Closure |
| (10 Sep 2020) In August 2020, the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) proposed a new rule that would effectively eliminate administrative closure as a docket management tool for Immigration Judges. The EOIR justified this proposed rule by claiming that administrative closure has "exacerbated both the extent of the existing backlog of immigration court cases and the difficulty in addressing that backlog in a fair and timely manner." See more... |
| Federal Prosecutions Resulting from U.S. Postal Service Investigations Hit Record Low |
| (31 Aug 2020) During the first ten months of FY 2020 the government reported that 1,200 new criminal prosecutions were filed from investigations led by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. If these prosecutions continue at the same pace, the annual total of prosecutions will be 1,440 for this fiscal year. See more... |
| Social Security Disability Lawsuits Reach Historic High in July 2020 |
| (24 Aug 2020) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during July 2020 there were 2,500 new Social Security lawsuits filed in district court. Nearly all of the suits—more than 95 percent—sought review of the denial of disability as well as other benefits under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs. See more... |
| Immigration Court Completions Remain at Historic Lows Through July 2020 |
| (20 Aug 2020) The partial shutdown of the Immigration Court in the wake of COVID-19 has already impacted hundreds of thousands of immigrants awaiting their day in court. For the Court's current active backlog of 1,233,307 immigrants waiting for their cases to be heard, canceled hearings due to COVID-19 are increasing hearing delays for months and often years to come. See more... |
| 150,236 Veterans File Personal Injury Suits Alleging Defective 3M Earplugs |
| (27 Jul 2020) Lawsuits filed each month by veterans claiming that they had suffered hearing loss and other hearing-related problems as a result of defective 3M-supplied earplugs have not been slowed by the partial court shutdown caused by the coronavirus. As of the end of June, a total of 150,236 suits have been filed between January and June of 2020. See more... |
| Federal Criminal Referrals and Prosecutions Begin Slow Recovery in June |
| (20 Jul 2020) The latest case-by-case data show that federal criminal referrals and prosecutions increased modestly from their abnormally depressed levels since the Trump administration issued new guidance on Sunday evening, March 15, allowing some federal employees to work from home. See more... |
| More Immigration Judges Leaving the Bench |
| (13 Jul 2020) The latest judge-by-judge data from the Immigration Courts indicate that more judges are resigning and retiring. Turnover is the highest since records began in FY 1997 over two decades ago. See more... |
| Representation at Bond Hearings Rising but Outcomes Have Not Improved |
| (18 Jun 2020) Nationally representation rates for detained immigrants at bond hearings has been rising. For the eight months of FY 2020 fully two out of every three (66%) detained immigrants were represented at their bond hearings. See more... |
| Police Officers Rarely Charged for Excessive Use of Force in Federal Court |
| (17 Jun 2020) Despite growing popular unrest and media attention in recent years over excessive use of force by police officers, the latest available case-by-case data show that federal prosecutors rarely bring relevant criminal charges known as "deprivation of rights under the color of law" (18 U.S.C. 242) against law enforcement. See more... |
| EOIR Director McHenry Replies To TRAC's Letters But Ignores Agency's Data Troubles |
| (16 Jun 2020) Despite TRAC's appeals to the EOIR, Immigration Court records continue to disappear each month. This is unfortunately still the case with EOIR's latest data release. See more... |
| Judge-by-Judge Sentencing for 315,702 Federal Offenders, 2015-2019 |
| (09 Jun 2020) The latest judge-by-judge sentencing reports, updated through calendar year 2019, compare the sentences given by each of 916 U.S. District Court judges. Altogether these judges sentenced 315,702 federal offenders during the five-year period ending December 2019. See more... |
| More Immigrants in Limbo as Government Shutdown Due to COVID-19 Leads to Widespread Immigration Court Hearing Cancellations |
| (04 Jun 2020) The partial shutdown of the Immigration Court in the wake of COVID-19 has already impacted hundreds of thousands of immigrants awaiting their day in court. TRAC's estimate-given currently available data-is that 368,000 immigrants with cases now before the Immigration Court have already been adversely affected. See more... |
| EOIR's Data Release on Asylum So Deficient Public Should Not Rely on Accuracy of Court Records |
| (03 Jun 2020) TRAC has concluded that the data updated through April 2020 it has just received on asylum and other applications for relief to the Immigration Courts are too unreliable to be meaningful or to warrant publication. We are therefore discontinuing updating our popular Immigration Court Asylum Decisions app, and will take other steps to highlight this problem. See more... |
| COVID-19 Has Not Stemmed Flow of New Federal Civil Litigation |
| (02 Jun 2020) April 2020 saw record civil filings in the U.S. District Courts with a total of 56,519 new lawsuits filed-more than double the 24,488 filed just six months ago. Driving this increase has been the growth in suits filed by veterans alleging personal injury from defective 3M earplugs. See more... |
| Federal Criminal Prosecutions Plummet in Wake of COVID-19 |
| (28 May 2020) New criminal prosecutions dropped by 80 percent between February and April—from 13,843 during February 2020, before federal shutdowns to control the spread of COVID-19 began, to just 2,824 in April 2020. This means that only one-fifth the usual prosecutions took place. See more... |
| How Is Covid-19 Impacting Federal Criminal Enforcement? |
| (20 May 2020) Law enforcement agencies across the country have been referring fewer criminal cases to federal prosecutors since the coronavirus pandemic began. While weekly referrals for federal prosecution during February and the first half of March averaged around 4,500 per week, referrals fell to only 1,800 during the last week of March. See more... |
| Looking for Immigration Data? TRAC has a Tool for That |
| (05 May 2020) In the past 15 years, TRAC has become a valuable source of immigration data for journalists, researchers, policy makers, and the general public. This report provides a brief introduction to our immigration data so that you can better understand how TRAC works, what data we have, and how to use our tools. See more... |
| 51,307 Veterans File Personal Injury Suits Alleging Defective 3M Earplugs |
| (22 Apr 2020) New federal civil lawsuits filed in March continue to rise, driven by an ongoing surge of lawsuits filed by tens of thousands of veterans claiming that they suffered hearing loss and other hearing-related problems as a result of defective 3M-supplied earplugs. See more... |
| Large Numbers at Risk in ICE Detention Facilities for the COVID-19 Virus |
| (21 Apr 2020) Where are ICE detainees at risk of COVID-19 currently being held? A new report from Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) compiles the latest available data from both the Immigration Courts and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to address this question. See more... |
| Is Your Income Higher Now Than 10 Years Ago? It Depends On Where You Live |
| (15 Apr 2020) Where you reside has had a major impact on the relative change in prosperity families experience as reflected in the income reported on federal 1040 income tax returns. See more... |
| Along the US-Mexico Border Prosecutions for Harboring Immigrants Continue to Climb |
| (13 Apr 2020) The latest available case-by-case records tracking lead charges for February 2020 show 504 new prosecutions under federal laws prohibiting the harboring of undocumented immigrants, up from 400 during the same month last year. See more... |
| The Hidden Impact of Removal Proceedings on Rural Communities |
| (09 Apr 2020) Although the Immigration Courts with the largest backlogs of cases are located in large cities, the latest Immigration Court records show that when adjusted for population, many rural counties have higher rates of residents in removal proceedings than urban counties. See more... |
| Decline in ICE Detainees with Criminal Records Could Shape Agency's Response to COVID-19 Pandemic |
| (03 Apr 2020) The latest available data indicate that most civil immigrant detainees held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) do not have a single criminal conviction. In March 2020, in fact, more than six out of ten (61.2%) had no conviction, not even for a minor petty offense. See more... |
| Mapping Where Immigrants Reside While Waiting For Their Immigration Court Hearing |
| (24 Mar 2020) Just under 100,000 cases were added to the Immigration Court's active backlog since the beginning of FY 2020. A total of 1,122,824 cases are now pending on the court's active docket as of the end of February 2020. See more... |
| Veterans Personal Injury Suits Alleging Defective 3M Earplugs Skyrocket |
| (23 Mar 2020) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during February 2020 there was a 78.5 percent jump in the number of all types of civil lawsuits filed as compared to December 2019. New civil lawsuits in February totaled 39,142. This represented the second highest monthly total for federal civil court filings over the last decade. See more... |
| Department of Justice Official Uses Sunshine Week Event to Spread Misinformation about FOIA Processing |
| (17 Mar 2020) At a recent Sunshine Week event, a Department of Justice spokesperson claimed that FOIA applicants are now quicker to litigate, then blamed overly-litigious requesters for straining the workloads of FOIA professionals and bogging down ordinary citizens' FOIA requests. See more... |
| TRAC Sues DOJ's Office of Information Policy for Failure to Comply with Freedom of Information Act |
| (11 Mar 2020) The co-directors of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University have filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) against the Office of Information Policy (OIP) of the Department of Justice (DOJ) for withholding basic information regarding its receipt and processing of FOIA matters. See more... |
| Lawsuits Against Boeing Drive Record High Airplane Product Liability Filings in 2019 |
| (09 Mar 2020) A flurry of civil lawsuits against Boeing in the wake of its 737 MAX crashes have largely driven record high product liability filings in federal court. See more... |
| Corporate and White-Collar Prosecutions At All-Time Lows |
| (03 Mar 2020) The latest available case-by-case records from the Department of Justice show that the prosecution of white-collar offenders in January 2020 reached an all-time low since tracking began during the Reagan Administration. See more... |
| Public Charge Law is Rarely Used to Deport Immigrants - Is That About to Change? |
| (28 Feb 2020) Much in the news this week has been a DHS change that expands the definition of immigrants who can be deemed a "public charge." The principle of excluding immigrants to America who do not meet, or are not perceived to meet, certain standards of self-sufficiency is older than the legal framework of the current immigration system. See more... |
| ICE Sends Detainers to 3,671 Law Enforcement Agencies in FY 2019 |
| (24 Feb 2020) A total of 3,671 law enforcement agencies (LEAs) were sent detainers by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials during fiscal year 2019. This figure is based on the latest detainer-by-detainer internal ICE records obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. See more... |
| Jump in Asylum Decisions |
| (18 Feb 2020) The pace of deciding asylum cases is up sharply so far in FY 2020. A total of 33,194 asylum cases have already been decided on their merits according to the latest case-by-case Immigration Court data covering the first four months of fiscal year 2020 (October 2019 - January 2020). See more... |
| Sharp Decline in Criminal Immigration Prosecutions |
| (12 Feb 2020) During October 2019 criminal prosecutions referred to the Department of Justice (DOJ) by immigration enforcement agencies fell 4.2 percent, continuing their sharp decline over the past year. See more... |
| Use of Video in Place of In-Person Immigration Court Hearings |
| (28 Jan 2020) During the first quarter of fiscal year 2020 (October - December 2019) one out of every six (17%) of the 57,182 final Immigration Court hearings that concluded an immigrant's case was held by video. See more... |
| FOIA Lawsuits Are Taking Longer To Resolve |
| (23 Jan 2020) There has been a dramatic rise in pending FOIA cases. At the end of FY 2016, the number of pending FOIA lawsuits totaled 702, but by the end of FY 2019, that number more than doubled to 1,448. See more... |
| Federal Civil Tax Suits Fall by Half Over Last Decade |
| (22 Jan 2020) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during the first quarter of FY 2020 (October 2019 - December 2019) the government reported 158 new civil filings of federal tax suits. See more... |
| Cubans, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans Increase in Immigration Court Backlog |
| (21 Jan 2020) The fastest growing segments of the Immigration Court backlog are now Cubans, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans. See more... |
| Asylum Decisions Vary Widely Across Judges and Courts - Latest Results |
| (13 Jan 2020) TRAC's judge-by-judge asylum decision reports are now updated through FY 2019. These reports examine 179,848 asylum decisions across 59 immigration courts. See more... |
| Fair Labor Standards Act Civil Litigation Declining |
| (09 Jan 2020) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during November 2019 the government reported 528 new Fair Labor Standards Act civil filings for these matters. See more... |
| Record Number of Asylum Cases in FY 2019 |
| (08 Jan 2020) Immigration judges decided a record number of asylum cases in FY 2019. This past year judges decided 67,406 asylum cases, nearly two-and-a-half times the number from five years ago when judges decided 19,779 asylum cases. See more... |
| Contrasting Experiences: MPP vs. Non-MPP Immigration Court Cases |
| (19 Dec 2019) According to Immigration Court records through the end of November 2019, over 56,000 immigrants have been sent back to Mexico to await their immigration hearings under the Migration Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as "Remain in Mexico." See more... |
| New Immigration Court Data Released, Even More Records Missing Despite Assurances |
| (18 Dec 2019) Despite assurances that the next release of data on Immigration Court proceedings by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) would be reviewed for accuracy, the new data released late last Friday revealed continuing quality issues. See more... |
| FOIA Suits Rise Because Agencies Don't Respond Even As Requesters Wait Longer To File Suit |
| (16 Dec 2019) In the last few years, the number of FOIA lawsuits has risen dramatically, much faster than the rise in FOIA requests. Anecdotal reports suggest that delays in receiving responses to FOIA requests may be increasing and a reason for rising litigation. See more... |
| ICE Detains Fewer Immigrants with Serious Criminal Convictions Under Trump Administration |
| (06 Dec 2019) Despite the growth of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, the number of detainees with serious criminal convictions has been falling steadily since 2017. See more... |
| Subject: Civil Immigration Litigation in October 2019 Ties All-Time High |
| (02 Dec 2019) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during October 2019 the government reported 367 new civil immigration lawsuits were filed. See more... |
| Growth in ICE Detention Fueled by Immigrants with No Criminal Conviction |
| (26 Nov 2019) According to case-by-case data recently obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, the growth in detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the past four years has been fueled by a steady increase in the number of detainees with no criminal history. See more... |
| Dr. Austin Kocher joins TRAC as New Faculty Fellow |
| (18 Nov 2019) Dr. Austin Kocher joined the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse in October 2019 as our new Faculty Fellow. Kocher graduated from the Ohio State University in 2017 with a degree in geography. As a legal and political geographer, his research focuses on the intersection of law, space, and immigration. See more... |
| TRAC Asks EOIR to Issue Correction to Public Statements Regarding Incomplete and Inaccurate Data |
| (04 Nov 2019) On October 31, 2019, TRAC published a report that outlined our recent unsuccessful attempts to address inaccurate data published by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), the agency within the Department of Justice responsible for overseeing the U.S. Immigration Court system. See more... |
| Incomplete and Garbled Immigration Court Data Suggest Lack of Commitment to Accuracy |
| (31 Oct 2019) TRAC recently discovered gross irregularities in recent data releases from the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), the agency that oversees the U.S. immigration court system. See more... |
| Fewer Criminal Prosecution of Environmental Crimes Under Trump |
| (29 Oct 2019) Environmental prosecutions under Trump have averaged 306 per year. According to the latest case-by-case information through September 2019 analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, this number was fewer than during any year of the Obama, Bush, or Clinton Administrations going back to the mid 1990's. See more... |
| Crushing Immigration Judge Caseloads and Lengthening Hearing Wait Times |
| (25 Oct 2019) The current policies of the Trump Administration have been unsuccessful in stemming the rise in the Immigration Court's backlog. Overcrowded dockets create lengthening wait times for hearings. See more... |
| Truth in Lending Civil Suits Lowest Level in Last Decade |
| (18 Oct 2019) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during September 2019 the government reported 14 new truth in lending civil filings. See more... |
| White-Collar Prosecutions Half Level of 8 Years Ago |
| (25 Sep 2019) White-collar prosecutions continue to fall. Prosecutions are only half the level of just eight years ago. In fact, this year is on its way to achieving an all-time record low - the lowest ever since records began back in FY 1986. See more... |
| Federal Civil Motor Vehicle Lawsuits Continue to Grow |
| (20 Sep 2019) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during August 2019 the government reported 464 new lawsuits filed classed as "motor vehicle" civil filings. The volume of these cases has been steadily rising over the past five years. See more... |
| ICE Detainer Usage Declines in 2019, Trends Vary by State |
| (19 Sep 2019) Newly released Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data-updated through May 2019-reveals that ICE has been issuing about 6 percent fewer detainers this year than it did during the same period last year. See more... |
| Immigration Court's Active Backlog Surpasses One Million |
| (18 Sep 2019) The Immigration Court's active backlog of cases just passed the million case mark. The latest case-by-case court records through the end of August 2019 show the court's active case backlog was 1,007,155. See more... |
| Recent Trends in Drug-Related Asset Forfeitures |
| (03 Sep 2019) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during July 2019 the government reported filing 68 new drug-related asset forfeitures under 21 USC 881. See more... |
| FY 2019 Domestic Terrorism Prosecutions Twice Number for International Terrorism |
| (30 Aug 2019) Prosecutions for domestic terrorism outnumber those for acts of international terrorism by 2-to-1. The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first ten months of FY 2019 the government reported 204 terrorism-related prosecutions had been filed. See more... |
| Increasing Numbers "Remain in Mexico" Awaiting Immigration Court Hearings |
| (26 Aug 2019) As of the end of July, the number of individuals channeled into "Remain in Mexico" MPP Immigration Court proceedings grew to 26,001. Case-by-case court records obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University show that during July a total of 11,804 immigrants were sent back to Mexico to await their deportation hearings. See more... |
| ICE Secure Communities Removals Falling |
| (13 Aug 2019) Recently released Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removal-by-removal records on Secure Communities (SC) reveal that the number of SC deportations has been trending downward during the past year. As of April 2019 - the latest data available - the monthly number of SC removals had fallen to 6,152. See more... |
| Few Federal Hate Crime Referrals Result in Prosecution |
| (12 Aug 2019) The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (18USC 249) was passed by Congress in 2009. Despite around 50 criminal referrals each year to federal prosecutors for these hate crimes, few have resulted in actual charges filed in federal court. See more... |
| Access to Attorneys Difficult for Those Required to Remain In Mexico |
| (29 Jul 2019) The record thus far is that very few asylum seekers forced to remain in Mexico under the Migration Protection Protocols (MPP) have been able to secure representation for their upcoming Immigration Court proceedings. See more... |
| U.S. Government Files 58 Percent Fewer Civil Lawsuits in Federal Courts |
| (22 Jul 2019) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during June 2019 the United States Government filed 291 new federal civil suits. See more... |
| ICE Fails to Target Serious Criminals in Immigration Court Filings |
| (19 Jul 2019) Despite the administration's rhetoric of deporting "criminals" from this country, the latest data from the Immigration Courts through June 2019 shows only 2.8 percent of recent Department of Homeland Security (DHS) filings based deportability claims on any alleged criminal activity. See more... |
| Prosecution of Sex Trafficking of Children is Down Nationwide |
| (16 Jul 2019) Prosecutions for sex trafficking of children under a law used against financier Jeffrey Epstein last week are down 26.7 percent over the past fiscal year, according to the latest available data from the Justice Department. See more... |
| ICE Focus Shifts Away from Detaining Serious Criminals |
| (25 Jun 2019) As of December 31, 2018, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had 47,486 individuals in its custody. The number of ICE detainees was up 22 percent from the 38,810 persons ICE held at the end of September 2016. See more... |
| Civil Antitrust Litigation Continues to Decline |
| (20 Jun 2019) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during May 2019 the government reported only 47 new antitrust civil cases filed in the federal courts. See more... |
| Most Released Families Attend Immigration Court Hearings |
| (18 Jun 2019) The latest case-by-case records from the Immigration Courts indicate that as of the end of May 2019 one or more removal hearings had already been held for nearly 47,000 newly arriving families seeking refuge in this country. See more... |
| Death Penalty Prisoner Petitions Fall Sharply |
| (07 Jun 2019) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during April 2019 the government reported only 5 new prisoner petitions challenging their death penalty sentence. According to the case-by-case court records analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, there were just 62 death penalty challenges for the first seven months of FY 2019. See more... |
| Federal Weapons Prosecutions Continue to Climb in 2019 |
| (06 Jun 2019) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first seven months of FY 2019 the government reported 6,526 new weapons prosecutions. This marks the fifth straight year that weapons prosecutions have been rising - up 68.7 percent since FY 2014. See more... |
| Few Prosecuted for Illegal Employment of Immigrants |
| (30 May 2019) Criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers has been relatively rare. The latest available data show that during the last twelve months (April 2018 - March 2019) only 11 individuals (and no companies) were prosecuted in just 7 cases. See more... |
| Burgeoning Workloads for Immigration Judges |
| (23 May 2019) The hiring pace for new judges continues to be insufficient to keep up with the Immigration Court's workload. As a result, the court's backlog continues to climb - up 65 percent since President Trump assumed office. See more... |
| Fewer Employment Lawsuits Under the Americans with Disabilities Act |
| (07 May 2019) The latest available data from the federal courts show divergent trends for civil filings under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). See more... |
| Majority of New Family Immigration Court Cases Already in Sanctuary Cities |
| (23 Apr 2019) Despite the concern about the number of families arriving at the border seeking asylum, families continue to remain a minor proportion of new cases arriving at the Immigration Courts each month. See more... |
| Ten-Fold Difference in Odds of ICE Enforcement Depending Upon Where You Live |
| (11 Apr 2019) The odds of being arrested and deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vary greatly depending upon where an individual lives. See more... |
| Federal Criminal Prosecutions Drop Along Southwest Border |
| (02 Apr 2019) The latest available case-by-case records from federal prosecutors for February 2019 show Customs and Border Protection (CBP)-referred prosecutions dropped by 12 percent last month. See more... |
| Federal Government Civil Filings Rebound After the Shutdown |
| (28 Mar 2019) The latest available data from the federal courts for February 2019 show that the number of civil suits filed by the U.S. government has rebounded from their depressed levels during the federal government partial shutdown. See more... |
| Seeing Justice Done: The Impact of the Judge on Sentencing |
| (21 Mar 2019) The recent sentencing of Paul Manafort by federal judges in two different district courts has renewed interest in the sentencing practices of individual judges. See more... |
| Newly Arriving Families Not Main Source for Immigration Court's Growing Backlog |
| (19 Mar 2019) The Immigration Court backlog continues to rise. As of February 28, 2019, the number of pending cases on the court's active docket See more... |
| White Collar Prosecutions Hit All-Time Low in January 2019 |
| (13 Mar 2019) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2019 the government reported 337 new white collar crime prosecutions - an historic low. See more... |
| Millionaires and Corporate Giants Escaped IRS Audits in FY 2018 |
| (07 Mar 2019) The latest data from the IRS show an alarming and continued downward spiral in government audits of the wealthiest taxpayers and America's corporate giants. See more... |
| Which District Court Judges Now Have the Largest Civil Caseloads? |
| (28 Feb 2019) Nationally, there were 315,523 civil cases awaiting resolution before U.S. district court judges at the end of calendar year 2018. See more... |
| Federal Criminal Prosecutions Sharply Lower in December |
| (20 Feb 2019) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during December 2018 the government reported 13,569 new prosecutions. See more... |
| Immigration Court Workload in the Aftermath of the Shutdown |
| (19 Feb 2019) The latest available data from the Immigrant Court indicates that as of February 1, 2019 the court is still playing catch up in the aftermath of the five-week partial government shutdown. See more... |
| Importance of Nationality in Immigration Court Bond Decisions |
| (12 Feb 2019) The chances of being granted bond at hearings before immigration judges vary markedly by nationality, as do required bond amounts. See more... |
| Increased Litigation for Denials and Delays on Naturalization Applications |
| (22 Jan 2019) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during December 2018 the government reported 37 new federal civil immigration naturalization lawsuits. See more... |
| Cancelled Immigration Court Hearings Climb As Shutdown Continues |
| (14 Jan 2019) Since the beginning of the federal government shutdown, most Immigration Court hearings have been cancelled. See more... |
| DOJ Reports on Attorney Fee Awards in FOIA Litigation Inaccurate |
| (19 Dec 2018) Despite the congressional mandate requiring reporting of the amount of attorney fee and cost awards in each FOIA lawsuit, the Department of Justice has failed to take its responsibilities seriously See more... |
| Growth in the Immigration Court Backlog Continues in FY 2019 |
| (18 Dec 2018) The Immigration Court backlog continues to rise. As of November 30, 2018, the number of pending cases on the court's active docket grew to 809,041 cases. See more... |
| Litigation Under the Medicare Act Up |
| (17 Dec 2018) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during the first two months of FY 2019 litigation under the Medicare Act has been rising. See more... |
| Federal Prosecution Levels Remain at Historic Highs |
| (12 Dec 2018) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during October 2018 the government reported 18,135 new prosecutions, an increase of 6.7 percent over the previous month, and 57.3 percent over this period last year. See more... |
| Asylum Decisions and Denials Jump in 2018 |
| (29 Nov 2018) Fiscal year 2018 broke records for the number of decisions by immigration judges granting or denying asylum. See more... |
| Student Loan Default Recovery Continues to Drop in FY 2018 |
| (27 Nov 2018) The latest available data from the federal courts show that civil suits filed to recover student loan debt are at their lowest levels in a decade. See more... |
| Where ICE Secure Communities Removals Now Occur |
| (13 Nov 2018) Nine out of ten counties in the United States with the most Secure Communities removals are in Texas and California. See more... |
| Annual Report: FOIA Lawsuits Reach Record Highs in FY 2018 |
| (12 Nov 2018) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits continued to break record highs in FY 2018. See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Surpasses One Million Cases |
| (06 Nov 2018) The Immigration Court backlog has jumped by 225,846 cases since the end of January 2017 when President Trump took office. See more... |
| Anti-Racketeering Civil Suits Jump in 2018 |
| (30 Oct 2018) The latest available data from the federal courts show that civil filings under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) jumped significantly during FY 2018. See more... |
| Federal Prosecution of Environmental Crimes Continues to Drop |
| (25 Oct 2018) The latest available data from the Justice Department shows that during the 12 months of fiscal year 2018, ending in September, the government reported prosecuting 109 new environmental crimes. See more... |
| Counties Where ICE Arrests Concentrate |
| (24 Oct 2018) More than a quarter (28%) of recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests of immigrants living and working in communities across America took place in just ten counties in the United States, along with their immediate surrounding locales. See more... |
| FOIA Suits Filed by Nonprofit/Advocacy Groups Double Under Trump |
| (18 Oct 2018) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suits filed by nonprofit and advocacy organizations seeking access to federal government records have more than doubled since President Trump assumed office. See more... |
| Official Corruption Prosecutions Drop Under Trump |
| (15 Oct 2018) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that federal prosecutions for official corruption have dropped sharply. See more... |
| Profiling Who ICE Detains - Few Committed Any Crime |
| (09 Oct 2018) The vast majority (58%) of individuals in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody as of June 30, 2018 had no criminal record. See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Jumps Again in August |
| (26 Sep 2018) In August 2018, Immigration Courts remained overwhelmed with record numbers of cases awaiting decision. As of August 31, 2018, the number had reached 764,561. See more... |
| Tracking Over 2 Million ICE Arrests: A First Look |
| (25 Sep 2018) The latest available case-by-case data now allows the public for the first time to track in some detail over 2 million ICE arrests from October 2008 through June 2018. See more... |
| Suits Challenging Confinement of Noncitizens Up |
| (20 Sep 2018) Habeas corpus filings in federal courts challenging the confinement of noncitizens continue to rise. See more... |
| Louisiana and New Jersey Lead in Legal Action Against Health Care and Pharmaceutical Companies |
| (30 Aug 2018) Legal action against health care and pharmaceutical companies in federal courts has sharply increased over the last five years, and in particular since late 2017. See more... |
| Growth in Immigration Court Backlog Varies Markedly by State |
| (29 Aug 2018) As of July 31, 2018, pending cases in Immigration Court nationwide reached nearly three-quarters of a million (746,049 cases). See more... |
| Weapons Prosecutions Continue to Climb in 2018 |
| (27 Aug 2018) According to the latest case-by-case information covering the first ten months of FY 2018, new federal weapons prosecutions are up 22.5 percent over the same period a year ago. See more... |
| Stepped Up Illegal-Entry Prosecutions Reduce Those for Other Crimes |
| (06 Aug 2018) The push to prioritize prosecuting illegal border crossers has begun to impact the capacity of federal prosecutors to enforce other federal laws. See more... |
| Media Lawsuits Seeking Government Records Jump Under Trump |
| (02 Aug 2018) The number of lawsuits filed by news organizations and reporters to obtain federal government records was up sharply during the first year and a half of the Trump Administration. See more... |
| Findings of Credible Fear Plummet Amid Widely Disparate Outcomes by Location and Judge |
| (30 Jul 2018) Immigration Court outcomes in credible fear reviews (CFR) have recently undergone a dramatic change. Starting in January 2018, court findings of credible fear began to plummet. See more... |
| Latest ICE Data on Detainer Usage Through April 2018 |
| (27 Jul 2018) Newly released ICE data - updated through April 2018 - reveal ICE continues to issue around 14,000 new detainers on average each month. See more... |
| Federal Motor Vehicle Product Liability Litigation Up 89% |
| (25 Jul 2018) The latest available data from the federal courts through June 2018 show that new federal motor vehicle product liability lawsuits have risen sharply. See more... |
| "Zero Tolerance" at the Border: Rhetoric vs. Reality |
| (24 Jul 2018) The latest available case-by-case records for May 2018 reveal a total of 9,216 new federal prosecutions were brought as a result of referrals from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the five federal judicial districts along the southwest border. See more... |
| Three-fold Difference in Immigration Bond Amounts by Court Location |
| (02 Jul 2018) The latest available case-by-case court records, current through May 2018, reveal a three-fold difference across Immigration Courts in the median bond amount set. See more... |
| New Details on Border Patrol Arrests |
| (27 Jun 2018) Newly released case-by-case data on Border Patrol arrests, current through April 2018, allow a first-time, in-depth look at many aspects of what has been happening along the southwest border. See more... |
| ICE Apprehensions Half Levels of Five Years Ago |
| (12 Jun 2018) While Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) administrative arrests are up as compared to the last two years of the Obama Administration, these "interior" apprehensions are only half the levels of five years ago See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Jumps While Case Processing Slows |
| (08 Jun 2018) The Immigration Court's backlog keeps rising. As of the end of May 2018, the number of cases waiting decision reached an all-time high of 714,067. See more... |
| Criminal Prosecutions Jump 60% for Illegal Border Crossers |
| (04 Jun 2018) Federal criminal prosecutions of individuals apprehended by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) along the southwest border with Mexico jumped 30 percent in April 2018 over March figures. See more... |
| White Collar Prosecutions Fall to Lowest in 20 Years |
| (24 May 2018) Current prosecution levels represent the lowest number of white collar prosecutions in more than 20 years. See more... |
| ICE Deportations Only Half Levels of Five Years Ago |
| (17 May 2018) Newly released Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data - updated through October 2017 - provide case-by-case details on each ICE deportation. See more... |
| Five-Year Decline in Social Security Disability Benefit Lawsuits |
| (03 May 2018) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during March 2018 there were 660 new Social Security SSID Title XVI lawsuits filed in district court. See more... |
| ICE Now Issuing 14,000 Detainers Each Month - Number Honored Unclear |
| (30 Apr 2018) Newly released Immigration and Customs Enforcement data - updated through November 2017 - reveal ICE is issuing just under 14,000 new detainers on average each month. See more... |
| Immigration Criminal Prosecutions Jump in March 2018 |
| (27 Apr 2018) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2018 the government reported 7,020 new immigration prosecutions. See more... |
| Traffic Violations Have Highest Growth Rate for Secure Communities Removals |
| (25 Apr 2018) Recently released ICE removal-by-removal records from Secure Communities -- current through October 2017 -- provide a portrait of deportations of immigrants from each state and county in the nation. See more... |
| Subject: Immigration Court Cases Now Involve More Long-Time Residents |
| (19 Apr 2018) The latest available data from the Immigration Court reveals a sharp uptick in the proportion of cases involving immigrants who have been living in the U.S. for years. See more... |
| Nearly Half of Corporate Giants Escape IRS Audit in 2017 |
| (09 Apr 2018) The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reports that nationally there are now 616 corporate giants. These are companies that reported $20 billion or more in assets. See more... |
| Criminal Prosecutions from the Veterans Administration |
| (02 Apr 2018) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2018 the government reported 17 new prosecutions referred by the Veterans Administration (VA). See more... |
| Where Are Immigrants Being Detained by ICE? |
| (29 Mar 2018) Nearly two out of every three immigrants who have been detained during Immigration Court proceedings during the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations were housed in just twenty-five counties See more... |
| Immigration Court Outcomes by County of Residence |
| (27 Mar 2018) We have just added new features that permit the public to examine the immigrant's residence in all deportation cases before the Immigrant Court. See more... |
| IRS Referrals for Criminal Prosecution Reach New Low |
| (26 Mar 2018) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2018 the government reported receiving 135 new referrals for prosecution from the Internal Revenue Service. See more... |
| Civil Caseloads Vary Markedly for Federal Judges |
| (14 Mar 2018) The latest available data show that for the year ending December 2017, twelve United States district judges each closed more than a thousand civil cases. See more... |
| Some Federal Judges Handle An Inordinate Criminal Caseload |
| (13 Mar 2018) During the past five years, through December 2017, forty-nine federal district court judges each sentenced more than one thousand defendants who appeared before them. See more... |
| Jump in Federal Civil Environmental Litigation |
| (21 Feb 2018) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during January 2018 the government reported 172 new environmental civil lawsuits filed. See more... |
| Federal Criminal Environmental Prosecutions Continue to Fall |
| (01 Feb 2018) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first three months of FY 2018 the government reported 55 new criminal environment prosecutions. See more... |
| Fair Labor Standards Act Lawsuits Down From 2015 Peak |
| (25 Jan 2018) The government reported 1,847 new Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) civil filings during the first quarter of FY 2018. See more... |
| Hot Spots With Highest Growth in Immigration Court Backlog |
| (23 Jan 2018) The county in the country with the fastest growing number of residents with pending cases before the Immigration Court was Mecklenburg County (Charlotte) in North Carolina. See more... |
| Subject: FOIA Lawsuits Surge in Trump Administration's First Year |
| (16 Jan 2018) Since the new administration took office at the end of January 2017, there has been a sharp jump in the number of lawsuits filed by individuals and organizations seeking court orders See more... |
| Serious Criminal Immigration Convictions Still Infrequent Under Trump |
| (09 Jan 2018) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during November 2017 the government reported 4,758 new immigration convictions. See more... |
| Family and Medical Leave Litigation Down Sharply |
| (05 Jan 2018) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during November 2017 the government reported 88 new court cases seeking relief under the Family and Medical Leave Act. See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Tops 650,000 |
| (04 Jan 2018) During the first two months of FY 2018, the Immigration Court number of pending cases climbed by an additional 30,000. See more... |
| Criminal Immigration Prosecutions Down 14% in FY 2017 |
| (06 Dec 2017) The latest available data from the U.S. Justice Department show that during FY 2017 the government reported 59,910 new immigration prosecutions. See more... |
| Defaulted Student Loan Suits Down Sharply from 2011 Peak |
| (04 Dec 2017) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during October 2017 the federal government reported filing 41 new civil actions for recovery of defaulted student loans. See more... |
| Federal Weapons Prosecutions Rise for Third Consecutive Year |
| (29 Nov 2017) The latest case-by-case records from the Justice Department covering all of FY 2017 indicate that federal criminal prosecutions for weapons offenses grew by 10.8 percent over the levels seen during FY 2016. See more... |
| Asylum Representation Rates Have Fallen Amid Rising Denial Rates |
| (28 Nov 2017) Very recent Immigration Court records reveal that the proportion of asylum seekers who are unable to obtain representation has risen markedly. See more... |
| Asylum Decisions Depend on Judge Assigned - San Francisco and Newark Have Worst Records |
| (20 Nov 2017) Very recent data from the Immigration Courts, current through September 2017, reveals that the outcome for asylum seekers continues to depend See more... |
| Latest Asylum Denial Rates for Each Immigration Court Judge |
| (15 Nov 2017) TRAC has just published the tenth in its long running series of reports covering each Immigration Judge's decisions on asylum cases. See more... |
| ICE's Implementation of Secure Communities Proves Ineffective |
| (08 Nov 2017) Since President Trump assumed office, the Secure Communities program has been promoted as essential to implement this administration's agenda for ramped up deportations. See more... |
| Failure to Implement Public Reporting on Detainers Undermines ICE Pronouncements |
| (03 Nov 2017) Newly released Immigration and Customs Enforcement's case-by-case data through July 2017 show that the use of detainers has leveled out instead of increasing over the past four months. See more... |
| Immigration Court Filings Take Nose Dive, While Court Backlog Increases |
| (30 Oct 2017) Preliminary figures based upon case-by-case court records as of the end of September 2017 indicate that the number of DHS issued NTAs (notices to appear) initiating proceedings in Immigration Court is substantially down since President Trump took office. See more... |
| Consumer Credit Lawsuits Surpass 10,000 in FY 2017 |
| (25 Oct 2017) The latest available data from the federal courts show that a total of 10,583 new consumer credit lawsuits were filed for fiscal year 2017. See more... |
| Who Is Represented in Immigration Court? |
| (16 Oct 2017) Many factors impact the odds that an individual can obtain representation in Immigration Court. See more... |
| Fewer Copyright Infringement Lawsuits Filed |
| (29 Sep 2017) The latest available data from the federal courts show that fewer copyright infringement suits are being filed. See more... |
| Children: Amid a Growing Court Backlog Many Still Unrepresented |
| (28 Sep 2017) Despite a dramatic drop-off in new Immigration Court cases involving unaccompanied children (UAC) this year, the backlog of pending children's cases has continued to rise. See more... |
| Domestic Terrorism Prosecutions Outnumber International |
| (21 Sep 2017) While terrorism prosecutions involving extremists affiliated with ISIS grab the headlines, international terrorists make up only a small proportion See more... |
| Crisis Management Now Routine at ICE FOIA Office |
| (05 Sep 2017) FOIA managers at Immigration and Customs Enforcement do not appear to monitor the processing of FOIA requests on a regular basis to ensure requests move smoothly through their work queues. See more... |
| Federal Criminal Prosecutions Fall Under Trump |
| (01 Sep 2017) Despite tough talk on cracking down on crime from the President and from Attorney General Sessions, actual criminal prosecutions and convictions secured by federal prosecutors have dropped. See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Climbs to 617,527 Cases |
| (31 Aug 2017) The latest available case-by-case court records show that as of the end of July 2017, the Immigration Court's backlog continued to rise See more... |
| Use of ICE Detainers: Obama vs. Trump |
| (30 Aug 2017) The latest case-by-case Immigration and Customs Enforcement data reveal that its use of detainers, commonly called immigration holds, began to increase last year See more... |
| Civil Rights Suits Against Schools More Than Double in Last Four Years |
| (16 Aug 2017) The latest available data from the federal courts show that civil rights suits against schools have more than doubled during the last four years. See more... |
| Where You Live Impacts Ability To Obtain Representation in Immigration Court |
| (14 Aug 2017) Newly obtained case-by-case court records show that depending upon the community in which the immigrant resides, the odds of obtaining representation in Immigration Court deportation proceedings vary widely. See more... |
| Residents in Three Out of Four Counties in U.S. Now Before Immigration Court |
| (07 Aug 2017) The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University has just released a brand new web mapping application See more... |
| Drug Prosecutions Drop To Historic Lows Under Trump |
| (27 Jul 2017) Despite widespread concern about an epidemic of opioid abuse, and announcements by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and others of stepped up efforts by the Trump administration to address it, federal criminal prosecutions for drug offenses have dropped to historic lows. See more... |
| Dramatic Rise in FOIA Lawsuits Filed by Nonprofit Advocacy Groups |
| (26 Jul 2017) The number of FOIA lawsuits filed by nonprofit and advocacy organizations has generally grown over the past two decades, irrespective of which political party was in office See more... |
| Immigration Court Dispositions Drop 9.3 Percent Under Trump |
| (18 Jul 2017) The latest available case-by-case data indicate that Immigration Court dispositions have dropped by 9.3 percent since President Trump assumed office. See more... |
| Securities and Commodities Exchange Litigation Up 37 Percent |
| (19 Jun 2017) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during May 2017 the government reported 128 new securities and commodities exchange civil filings. See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Nears 600,000 |
| (16 Jun 2017) The latest data from the Immigration Courts show that the number of cases waiting for a decision continues to climb. See more... |
| Federal Criminal Prosecutions Referred by DHS Continue to Fall |
| (15 Jun 2017) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during April 2017 the government reported 4,434 new criminal prosecutions See more... |
| TRAC Sues ICE on Withholding Data on Secure Communities Program |
| (08 Jun 2017) The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) has filed yet another suit in federal court today under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) See more... |
| Media-Filed Suits Seek Records from the Trump Administration |
| (31 May 2017) Numerous reporters and news organizations have already taken federal agencies to court seeking government records from the Trump administration. See more... |
| Civil Asset Forfeiture Filings Lower But Usage Varies Widely |
| (25 May 2017) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during April 2017 the government reported 74 new civil asset forfeiture filings. See more... |
| FOIA Lawsuits Reach Highest Level Recorded in 25 Years |
| (23 May 2017) The latest available case-by-case records from the federal courts show that Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits challenging the withholding of records have risen since President Trump assumed office. See more... |
| Federal Environmental Prosecutions Fall to Record Low |
| (22 May 2017) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first six months of FY 2017 the government reported 152 new environment prosecutions. See more... |
| Despite Hiring, Immigration Court Backlog and Wait Times Climb |
| (15 May 2017) During the past 18 months, a total of 79 new judges have been appointed to the Immigration Court. See more... |
| TRAC Sues ICE on Withholding Data on Detainers |
| (09 May 2017) The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) filed a suit today under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) charging Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) See more... |
| FOIA Backlog Skyrockets at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services |
| (08 May 2017) The backlog of unprocessed FOIA requests to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) continues to climb. See more... |
| Under Trump: Civil Lawsuits Up To Redress Immigration Action and Inaction |
| (24 Apr 2017) The latest available case-by-case records from the federal courts show that as of the end of March 2017, 763 new civil immigration lawsuits have been filed in disputes involving immigration matters since January 20, 2017. See more... |
| Immigration Court Post-Trump Cases Show No Increase |
| (21 Apr 2017) The latest available court records through the end of March 2017 reveal little observable change in filings since President Trump assumed office. See more... |
| Federal Tax Returns: Latest Rankings by County, State and More |
| (11 Apr 2017) For many years, the county with the highest adjusted gross income per federal tax return payer was found in glossy locations such as Teton County, Wyoming, Fairfield County, Connecticut and New York Country, N.Y. See more... |
| February 2017 Sees Decline in Federal Personal Injury/Product Liability Suits |
| (04 Apr 2017) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during February 2017 the government reported 1,972 new personal injury filings for product liability. See more... |
| Official Corruption Prosecutions Decline: February 2017 |
| (22 Mar 2017) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2017, the first complete month under the new Trump Administration, there were only 24 new official corruption prosecutions filed by federal prosecutors. See more... |
| Immigration Court Post-Trump Cases: Latest Data |
| (21 Mar 2017) The latest available case-by-case Immigration Court records through the end of February 2017 give an early glimpse at what, if any, changes are emerging in deportation actions by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). See more... |
| ICE Refuses To Release More Comprehensive Detainer Data |
| (20 Mar 2017) Today Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued its first weekly report on detainers that it said had been refused by non-federal law enforcement agencies. See more... |
| The Immigration Court's Institutional Hearing Program: How Will It Be Affected |
| (22 Feb 2017) Special Immigration Court hearings under the court's Institutional Hearing Program (IHP) appear slated for expansion under President Trump. See more... |
| Suits Challenging Confinement of Noncitizens Jump |
| (21 Feb 2017) Habeas corpus filings in federal courts challenging the confinement of noncitizens have risen sharply. See more... |
| Immigration Court Deciding More Cases |
| (20 Feb 2017) The Immigration Court has steadily increased the number of cases it has completed. See more... |
| ICE Immigration Raids: A Primer |
| (14 Feb 2017) There are widespread reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fugitive operations teams conducted immigration roundups in a number of communities across the country last week. See more... |
| Relatively Few Deportations Result from ICE Detainers |
| (01 Feb 2017) A detailed analysis of removal-by-removal ICE records reveals a surprisingly low number of individuals were deported as a result of the use of detainers by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). See more... |
| ICE Criminal Prosecutions Down 41 Percent |
| (23 Jan 2017) Criminal prosecutions as a result of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigations have steadily fallen over the last five years. See more... |
| December 2016 Prisoner Petitions to Vacate Sentences |
| (20 Jan 2017) The latest available data from the federal district courts show that during December 2016 the number of new civil actions filed to vacate federal sentences appear to have fallen back to more typical levels since actions spiked in June 2016. See more... |
| Immigration Court Priority Family Case Backlog Surpasses 100,000 |
| (17 Jan 2017) The number of judges is still insufficient to handle the growing backlog in the Immigration Court. The court's crushing workload reached a record-breaking 533,909 pending cases as the court closed out calendar year 2016, up 4.2 percent in just the last four months. See more... |
| News Reporters Drive Growth in Media FOIA Litigation |
| (09 Jan 2017) The number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) cases brought by reporters and news organization has substantially increased during the last four years. Media-filed lawsuits which represented 3.5 percent of total federal filings during earlier years jumped to comprise more than one out of every ten FOIA suits (10.8%) at their peak in FY 2015. See more... |
| Convictions Decline From Drug Enforcement Administration Investigations |
| (21 Dec 2016) The latest available data from the Justice Department shows 1,493 new convictions for cases referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) during the first two months of FY 2017. DEA convictions were down 6.2% from the number of convictions during the comparable period in FY 2016. See more... |
| Federal Labor Management Relations Litigation Down in November 2016 |
| (19 Dec 2016) The latest available data from the federal courts show 47 new labor/management relations civil filings during November 2016. See more... |
| Asylum Denial Rates Rise to 57 Percent in FY 2016, Unrepresented Increase |
| (13 Dec 2016) Denials of asylum by immigration judges continued to rise last year. As of the end of September 2016, overall asylum denial rates for FY 2016 had risen to 57 percent. See more... |
| FOIA Lawsuits Mirror News Headlines And Increase 35 Percent |
| (09 Dec 2016) Very detailed court records of the near record 512 suits brought under the Freedom of Information Act in FY 2016 provide a detailed roadmap of how businesses, political groups, reporters and many others used the powerful law to achieve their widely varied goals. See more... |
| Asylum Outcome Increasingly Depends on Judge Assigned |
| (05 Dec 2016) The outcome for asylum seekers has become increasingly dependent upon the identity of the immigration judge assigned to hear their case. See more... |
| How Often Does The News Media Bring FOIA Lawsuits? |
| (01 Dec 2016) Just how active is the news media in taking federal agencies to court when they don't promptly turn over the records being sought? See more... |
| Immigration Now 52 Percent of All Federal Criminal Prosecutions |
| (28 Nov 2016) Immigration remains the major focus of all federal criminal enforcement efforts. See more... |
| Copyright Infringement Litigation Fell 22 Percent in FY 2016 |
| (22 Nov 2016) New federal lawsuits over issues of copyright infringement fell 22 percent last year. See more... |
| Latest Asylum Denial Rates for Each Immigration Court Judge |
| (10 Nov 2016) TRAC has just published the ninth in its long running series of reports covering each Immigration Judge's decisions on asylum cases. See more... |
| Immigration Court's Rising Backlog Now at 521,676 Cases |
| (09 Nov 2016) The latest Immigration Court data show the growth in the court's crushing backlog of cases continued through the first month of FY 2017. See more... |
| Americans with Disabilities Act Lawsuits Up 28 Percent in FY 2016 |
| (27 Oct 2016) Fiscal year 2016 set a new record for litigation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. See more... |
| EPA Criminal Prosecutions Down by Half in Last Five Years |
| (24 Oct 2016) This year the country is poised to have the lowest number of criminal prosecutions from investigations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for over two decades. See more... |
| Many Unrepresented Families Quickly Ordered Deported |
| (18 Oct 2016) At the end of September 2016 a total of 38,601 cases on the court's "rocket docket" involving "adults with children" (AWC) have been decided by immigration judges since July of 2014. See more... |
| Trump Tax Return Underlines Audit Challenge |
| (03 Oct 2016) New York Times Publication of Trump's 1995 Tax Records Underlines High End Audit Challenge See more... |
| Lawsuits Over Cable and Satellite TV Fees Have Dropped 42% This Year |
| (28 Sep 2016) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during August 2016 the government reported 65 new civil filings involving disputes over cable and satellite TV payments. See more... |
| Priority Cases Overwhelm Immigration Court's Capacity to Handle |
| (15 Sep 2016) The number of judges continue to prove insufficient to handle the growing backlog in the Immigration Courts. See more... |
| New Findings for Individuals Released on Bond in Immigration Court |
| (14 Sep 2016) Court records show that at least half - and in some years upwards of two-thirds - of those who have been proposed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for deportation in the Immigration Courts are held in ICE detention facilities. See more... |
| Federal Criminal Prosecutions in July Lowest Since 2007 |
| (31 Aug 2016) Federal criminal prosecutions for July 2016 dropped to only 9,118, down 15.5 percent from June. See more... |
| Immigration Judges Decide 57 Percent Entitled to Remain in U.S. |
| (17 Aug 2016) During the first ten months of FY 2016, immigration judges have determined that 96,223 noncitizens against whom Homeland Security sought removal orders were entitled to remain in this country. See more... |
| Federal Prisoner Petitions to Vacate Sentences Soar in 2016 |
| (16 Aug 2016) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during July 2016 the government reported 1,432 new federal prisoner petitions to vacate sentences were filed. See more... |
| TRAC Announces Free Detainer Web App plus Report on Latest ICE Detainer Outcomes |
| (12 Aug 2016) A free new web app on ICE detainers that provides users very extensive information about every ICE I-247 form sent to individual state and local enforcement agencies during FY 2003 to FY 2016 has been developed and posted by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Reforms of ICE Detainer Program Largely Ignored by Field Officers |
| (09 Aug 2016) Two central features of DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson's attempted reforms of ICE's I-247 program have had little impact on the day-to-day actions of ICE field offices. See more... |
| One in Five International Terrorism Prosecutions in Eastern Virginia |
| (08 Aug 2016) The Eastern District of Virginia headquartered in Alexandria leads the country in the number of international terrorism cases it prosecutes. See more... |
| Criminal Prosecutions for Illegal Entry Up, Re-Entry Down |
| (21 Jul 2016) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first eight months of FY 2016 the government reported 25,680 new criminal prosecutions for illegal entry, and 20,628 new criminal prosecutions for illegal re-entry. See more... |
| Immigration Backlog Still Rising Despite New Judge Investitures |
| (20 Jul 2016) Despite the addition of new judges, the number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts climbed to a new all-time high of 496,704 as of the end of June 2016, See more... |
| Stockholder Lawsuits Down 40 Percent in Last Four Years |
| (18 Jul 2016) The latest available data from the federal courts show that in the last 12 months ending in June 2016 the federal government reported 259 new stockholder civil lawsuits filed. See more... |
| Continued Decline in Patent Lawsuits |
| (23 Jun 2016) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during the first eight months of fiscal year 2016 the government reported the filing of 3,478 patent-related lawsuits. See more... |
| Being Ordered Deported in Immigration Court is Less Likely Than Ever |
| (15 Jun 2016) So far in FY 2016, the odds that a noncitizen will be ordered deported by an immigration judge have fallen to a new record low of 42.4 percent. See more... |
| Government Regulatory Prosecutions Fall to Record Low |
| (14 Jun 2016) The latest case-by-case data from the Justice Department show that in April 2016 there were 76 new prosecutions for government regulatory matters. See more... |
| Texas Immigration Court Leads U.S. in Issuing Removal Orders |
| (19 May 2016) Immigration Court judges have issued 44,204 removal orders during the first seven months of fiscal year 2016, according to the latest available court data. See more... |
| Increase in Civil Immigration Litigation |
| (17 May 2016) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during April 2016 the government reported 235 new civil filings in the immigration category. See more... |
| Health Care Fraud Prosecutions Down 23 Percent |
| (04 May 2016) Fiscal year 2016 is on pace to have the lowest level of federal prosecutions for health care fraud since FY 1998. See more... |
| Foreclosure Lawsuits Up Nearly a Third from Last Year |
| (22 Apr 2016) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during March 2016 the government reported 505 new foreclosure civil filings. See more... |
| In Six States, Immigration Relief Takes Over 1,000 Days on Average |
| (19 Apr 2016) Despite the recent appointment of new immigration judges, the Immigration Court's backlog continues to rise each month. See more... |
| New Data on 637 ICE Detention Facilities |
| (12 Apr 2016) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released a total of 325,209 individuals from its custody in fiscal year 2015; over half (55%) were released for deportation. See more... |
| White Collar Crime Convictions Continue To Decline |
| (07 Apr 2016) The federal prosecution of individuals convicted of white collar crimes continues to decline, according to a very timely analysis of thousands of case-by case records by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Fewer Voting Civil Rights Lawsuits Being Filed |
| (29 Mar 2016) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during the first five months of fiscal year 2016 the government reported the filing of 42 lawsuits under the category of voting civil rights. See more... |
| Official Corruption Prosecutions Fall to 20 Year Low |
| (23 Mar 2016) Recent data from the Justice Department show that 505 individuals were prosecuted for criminal corruption offenses during FY 2015, a decline of 3.6 percent from FY 2014 and down more than 30 percent from five years ago. See more... |
| IRS Criminal Enforcement Slides |
| (22 Mar 2016) As Congress continues to reduce its overall support of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the chances that the IRS will at some point recommend a taxpayer for criminal prosecution have significantly declined -- from 13.3 per million population in FY 2013 to 9.2 per million in FY 2015. See more... |
| Only One Fourth of New Immigration Court Cases Involve Mexicans |
| (21 Mar 2016) The number of individuals from Mexico whose removal is sought by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues to steadily decrease, according to the latest data on deportation filings from the Immigration Courts. See more... |
| Taxpayer Interest Income Hits New Low According to Latest IRS Data |
| (18 Mar 2016) Assertions and questions about alleged income disparity as well as reports of Americans' stagnant wages have become important aspects of this year's election debate. See more... |
| IRS Cutbacks Result in Billions in Lost Revenue |
| (15 Mar 2016) IRS attention to auditing very large and giant corporations has plummeted from FY 2010 through the first five months of FY 2016. See more... |
| TRAC Service Interruption Saturday 2/27 |
| (25 Feb 2016) This coming Saturday February 27, 2016 the TRAC websites will be down for maintenance while we upgrade our servers. See more... |
| Civil Filing Information for January 2016 |
| (24 Feb 2016) There were 20,233 new civil court suits filed in federal district courts during the month of January 2016, down 4.3 percent from December 2015. See more... |
| Convictions From FBI Referrals Continue Gradual Decline |
| (19 Feb 2016) Cases referred by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) led to 10,904 criminal convictions in FY 2015, a drop of 0.7 percent from 10,979 recorded in FY 2014. See more... |
| Average Wait Time in Immigration Court Rises to 667 Days |
| (12 Feb 2016) As of the end of January 2016, open cases in U.S. Immigration Court have been waiting for an average of 667 days, a new high. See more... |
| Lawsuits for Recovery of Defaulted Student Loans Have Fallen 24 Percent in Past Year |
| (25 Jan 2016) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during the first quarter of fiscal year 2016 the government reported the filing of 283 new lawsuits for the recovery of defaulted student loans (excluding loans to veterans). See more... |
| ICE Detainer Use Stabilizes Under Priority Enforcement Program |
| (21 Jan 2016) The 7,117 detainers issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during October 2015 suggests that their use appears to have stabilized in the four months since the launch of the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) in June 2015. See more... |
| Criminal Immigration Prosecutions Fall 22 Percent |
| (20 Jan 2016) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during November 2015, the government reported 4,861 new immigration prosecutions. See more... |
| Prosecution of Corporate Crime Varies Widely by Location, Program and Agency |
| (20 Jan 2016) Federal prosecutors routinely fail to send agency referrals of alleged corporate criminal conduct on to the courts, according to an analysis of hundreds of thousands of Justice Department records for the five-year period covering fiscal years 2010 through 2014. See more... |
| Potential Impact of Immigration Raids Targeting Women with Children |
| (14 Jan 2016) Earlier this month the Obama Administration announced immigration raids that would be targeting women and children. See more... |
| FOIA Lawsuits Reach Record High |
| (06 Jan 2016) Freedom of Information complaints filed against the government -- 498 in FY 2015 -- are higher than they have ever been, according to a new analysis of fifteen years of court data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Removal of Noncitizens on Terrorism Grounds Continues to be Rare |
| (08 Dec 2015) The removal of a noncitizen via Immigration Court proceedings on the grounds of terrorism continues to be a rare event, as it has been for many years. See more... |
| FOIA Survey Shows Agencies Improved But Far From Perfect |
| (03 Nov 2015) Two-thirds of 21 agencies are now responding and providing usable data in the FOIA survey being conducted by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Federal Weapons Convictions Declined 34.8 Percent Over Ten Years |
| (27 Oct 2015) There were 6,002 federal weapons convictions in FY 2015, a drop of 5.8 percent from 6,373 recorded in FY 2014. See more... |
| Federal Stockholders' Lawsuits Fall 24 Percent |
| (23 Oct 2015) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during fiscal year 2015 the government reported the filing of 242 new stockholders' lawsuits in the district courts. See more... |
| TRAC Challenges CIA Refusal to Process FOIA Requests |
| (20 Oct 2015) The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University has filed a suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) about the Central Intelligence Agency's withholding of basic information regarding its receipt and processing of FOIA matters. See more... |
| U.S. Immigration Courts Completed 7.3 Percent More Cases in FY 2015 |
| (15 Oct 2015) Judges in the U.S. Immigration Court completed 198,105 cases during FY 2015, up 7.3 percent from 184,597 in FY 2014. See more... |
| Justice Department Data Reveal 29 Percent Drop in Criminal Prosecutions of Corporations |
| (13 Oct 2015) Criminal prosecution of corporate violators by the U.S. Department of Justice declined by 29 percent between FY 2004 and FY 2014, despite repeated claims to the contrary by top officials. See more... |
| Current Average Wait for an Immigration Court Hearing is Nearly Three Years |
| (21 Sep 2015) Nearly a half million individual deportation cases (456,644) were pending before the judges in the nation's clearly overwhelmed Immigration Courts at the end of August, according to the very latest data from the U.S. Department of Justice. See more... |
| Criminal Activity Alleged in 10.8% of Immigration Court Deportation Filings |
| (17 Sep 2015) As of the end of August 2015, alleged criminal activity has been the basis of only about one of every ten (10.8%) deportation filings in U.S. Immigration Court so far this fiscal year. See more... |
| Fair Labor Standards Act Lawsuits Poised for Record High |
| (16 Sep 2015) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during August 2015 the government reported the filing of 761 new lawsuits under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in the district courts. See more... |
| Federal Consumer Fraud Convictions Have Fallen 35 Percent in Last Decade |
| (09 Sep 2015) Federal convictions for consumer fraud have fallen 34.7 percent over the last decade, according to case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| ICE Detainer Use Falls, Still Not Targeting Serious Criminals |
| (28 Aug 2015) The 7,993 detainers issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during April 2015 represents a 30 percent drop from the 11,355 issued six months earlier in October 2014, according to the latest agency data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Continued Decline in Federal Stockholders' Lawsuits |
| (18 Aug 2015) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during July 2015 the government reported the filing of 14 new stockholders' lawsuits in the district courts. See more... |
| Central American Deportation Cases Dominate U.S. Immigration Courts |
| (14 Aug 2015) Persons from Central America continue to outnumber those from Mexico when DHS seeks deportation orders in Immigration Court, according to the latest government data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Pro Se Cases Can Make a Judge a Top Closer |
| (30 Jul 2015) Chief Judge Loretta Preska of the Southern District of New York has closed more prisoner petition and civil rights lawsuits than any other judge in the nation in the twelve-month period ending March 31, 2015, according to the latest case-by-case court records compiled and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. See more... |
| Federal White Collar Crime Prosecutions At 20-Year Low |
| (29 Jul 2015) The federal prosecution of individuals charged with white collar crimes is significantly lower than it was 20 years ago, according to thousands of case-by case records analyzed by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Fewer Banking-Related Federal Civil Lawsuits |
| (22 Jul 2015) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during June 2015 the government reported 18 new “banks and banking” civil filings. See more... |
| Representation Makes Fourteen-Fold Difference in Outcome |
| (16 Jul 2015) Results in "women with children" cases before the Immigration Court continue to show that the single most important factor determining outcome is whether or not these individuals are represented in their court proceedings. See more... |
| Senior Judge Workload Expands |
| (09 Jul 2015) The workload of federal judges who have retired but voluntarily continue to hear cases has grown by nearly every measure in the past two decades. See more... |
| Judge Rejects DHS Classification of Syracuse University Research Center as a Commercial Requester |
| (02 Jul 2015) In an important FOIA decision, Judge Christopher R. Cooper of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia has ruled that the purpose of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) is educational and journalistic and not business-related. See more... |
| Rise Seen in Education Civil Rights Lawsuits |
| (30 Jun 2015) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during May 2015 the government reported 49 new federal district court cases that were classified under the category of education civil rights. See more... |
| Only 29 Convictions in Federal Hate Crime Cases Since FY 2010 |
| (25 Jun 2015) During the first eight months of fiscal year 2015, the federal government reported the convictions of eight individuals who had been charged with federal hate crimes under Title 8 Section 249 of the U.S. Code, according to the latest available data from the Justice Department. See more... |
| Criminal Immigration Convictions Drop 20 Percent |
| (12 Jun 2015) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first seven months of FY 2015 the government reported 42,778 new immigration convictions. See more... |
| Less Than Half of Removal Orders Upheld by Immigration Judges in FY 2015 |
| (11 Jun 2015) So far in FY 2015, the odds that a noncitizen will be ordered deported by an immigration judge have fallen to 48.4 percent -- the lowest level since at least FY 1998, according to the latest available Immigration Court data covering the period through the end of May 2015. See more... |
| Recent Drop in Prison Condition Lawsuits |
| (27 May 2015) The latest data from the federal courts show that the number of civil lawsuits filed over prison conditions has declined sharply since reaching a peak in February 2014. See more... |
| Few Long Sentences for Federal Convictions |
| (18 May 2015) During March 2015, the federal government reported the convictions of 12,383 individuals for federal crimes. See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Reaches Another New High |
| (15 May 2015) The number of new cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts climbed to a new all-time high of 445,607 as of the end of April 2015, according to very timely government court data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| TRAC: Holding Federal Agencies Accountable for over 25 Years |
| (14 May 2015) We thought this well-written description of TRAC's history, mission and offerings would be of interest to government officials, members of Congress, scholars, supporters, subscribers and many others. See more... |
| Dropoff in Filing of Federal Antitrust Lawsuits |
| (01 May 2015) There were 307 new antitrust lawsuits filed in federal district courts during the first half of fiscal year 2015. See more... |
| Key Federal Agencies Flub Response to Basic FOIA Request |
| (24 Apr 2015) The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse sent 21 federal agencies identical FOIA requests on Jan. See more... |
| El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala Account for 38% of Immigration Court Filings |
| (14 Apr 2015) Three Central American countries -- El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras -- account for over a third (38 percent) of removal orders sought by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) so far this fiscal year, according to the latest Immigration Court data covering the period through the end of March 2015. See more... |
| Federal Prosecution Data for February 2015 Released |
| (07 Apr 2015) Federal criminal prosecutions totaled 10,750 for the month of February, according to the most recent data released by the Department of Justice. See more... |
| Latest Federal Tax Return Info by County, State |
| (02 Apr 2015) Very timely information on income reported on tax returns over the past twenty years has just been released by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Prosecutors Continue to Use Discretion in Closing Immigration Court Cases |
| (19 Mar 2015) There has been no drop-off in the government's use of prosecutorial discretion (PD) as a basis to close cases and allow an individual to remain in this country, according to case-by-case Immigration Court records current through February 2015. See more... |
| Declines Seen in Social Security Disability Benefit Lawsuits |
| (18 Mar 2015) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during February 2015 there were 694 new Social Security SSID Title XVI lawsuits filed in district court. See more... |
| Vote for the Biggest FOIA Failure |
| (12 Mar 2015) Help the FOIA Project identify the worst violations of the Freedom of Information Act by casting your vote for a case of withholding that is worthy of this dishonor. See more... |
| The IRS and the April Surprise |
| (10 Mar 2015) Criminal prosecutions by the IRS appear to be timed to coincide with tax season, according to an analysis of the latest government case-by-case data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Civil Immigration Filings Trending Downward |
| (24 Feb 2015) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during January 2015 the government reported 131 new civil filings in the immigration category, down 13.2 percent from the previous month and down 13.3 percent from five years ago. See more... |
| Government Regulatory Prosecutions at New Low in December 2014 |
| (19 Feb 2015) The latest case-by-case data from the Justice Department show that in December 2014 there were 90 new prosecutions for government regulatory matters, fewer than in any month since October 1998. See more... |
| Representation is Key in Immigration Proceedings Involving Women with Children |
| (18 Feb 2015) New data tracking the processing of "women with children" cases by the Immigration Court's new priority docketing system provide details on how these cases are proceeding. See more... |
| Persons Sentenced: Where Does Your Judge Rank? |
| (17 Feb 2015) The number of persons sentenced by individual federal judges varies widely, with the top ranking judge in the nation -- Robert C. Brack of New Mexico -- having sentenced 6,708 defendants in just the last five years. See more... |
| Continued Decline in Secret Service Prosecutions |
| (22 Jan 2015) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during FY 2014, the government reported 2,158 new prosecutions referred by the Secret Service in the Department of Homeland Security. See more... |
| MDLs in West Virginia South Push Civil Filings Higher |
| (21 Jan 2015) There were 23,356 new civil court suits filed in federal district courts during the month of December 2014, up 17.4 percent from November. See more... |
| Immigration Court Processing Times Fall for Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador |
| (20 Jan 2015) During the first quarter of FY 2015 (October - December), there has been a drop in the disposition times of cases in the U.S. Immigration Court from some key Central American countries. See more... |
| Mother Nature Swells Louisiana East's Contract Cases |
| (16 Jan 2015) The eight federal judges who closed the most contract cases in the one-year period ending September 30, 2014 all sit in the Eastern District of Louisiana, according to a new analysis of federal court records by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| TRAC Co-Founder's Groundbreaking Investigative Books Now Available as Digital Editions |
| (14 Jan 2015) More than three decades ago, Random House published "The Rise of the Computer State," David Burnham's prescient book that predicted how computers would soon dominate politics, economics, law enforcement and the basic thinking of the American people. See more... |
| Immigration Removal Orders Rise, But With Wide Variation By Court |
| (19 Dec 2014) The U.S. Immigration Court is granting a greater proportion of the deportation orders that are being requested by the government. See more... |
| Terrorism Prosecutions Continue to Decline |
| (12 Dec 2014) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during October 2014 the government reported 21 new prosecutions in the area of national internal security/terrorism. See more... |
| Sharp Rise in Non-Drug Related Forfeiture Lawsuits |
| (04 Dec 2014) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during October 2014 the government reported 176 new asset forfeiture lawsuits concerning the seizure of property and assets in cases that were not drug-related. See more... |
| In Two out of Three Pending Cases, Unaccompanied Children Have No Representation in Immigration Court |
| (25 Nov 2014) Unaccompanied children are represented by an attorney in only about one-third (32%) of 63,721 cases pending in Immigration Court as of October 31, 2014, according to the latest data obtained and analyzed by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Immigration Court Filings Rise 12 Percent; Backlog Continues to Climb |
| (19 Nov 2014) During FY 2014, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) filed 222,956 applications for removal orders in Immigration Court, up 12.2 percent from the previous year. See more... |
| Immigration Detainers Decline 39 Percent Since FY 2012 |
| (12 Nov 2014) There has been a dramatic drop in the number of detainers issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to the latest available data from the agency. See more... |
| Convictions from FBI Investigations Vary Widely by Region |
| (07 Nov 2014) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during FY 2014 the government reported 10,979 federal criminal convictions resulting from cases referred by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. See more... |
| Which Judges Juggle the Most Civil Cases? TRAC Update Reveals Answers |
| (23 Oct 2014) Federal District Judge Billy Roy Wilson of the Eastern District of Arkansas closed 3,008 civil cases in the twelve-month period ending June 30, more than any other judge in the nation. See more... |
| Lawsuits by Retired NFL Players Cause Jump in Trademark Filings |
| (20 Oct 2014) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during September 2014 the government reported 705 new trademark lawsuits. See more... |
| Some Federal Judges More Overburdened Than Others, Study Finds |
| (14 Oct 2014) While the number of criminal and civil filings in federal district court has risen 28 percent in the last 20 years, the number of judgeships has grown by only 4 percent. See more... |
| Ten Percent Drop in Federal Sentences of One Year or More |
| (07 Oct 2014) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during August 2014 the government reported 13,265 new convictions. See more... |
| DuPont C8 Cases Contribute to Spike in Non-Product Liability Personal Injury Lawsuits |
| (06 Oct 2014) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during August 2014 the government reported 1,944 new personal injury civil filings which were not related to product liability. See more... |
| Decline in Prosecution of Environment Crimes Under Obama |
| (17 Sep 2014) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first nine months of FY 2014, the government reported 271 new prosecutions of environment-related offenses. See more... |
| Immigration Offenses Account for 80% of Immigration Court Deportation Orders |
| (12 Sep 2014) Immigration Court judges have ordered 82,878 individuals deported so far this fiscal year, according to the latest data as of the end of August. See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Nears 400,000 |
| (05 Sep 2014) The number of cases awaiting resolution in the Immigration Courts had grown to 396,552 by the end of July 2014. See more... |
| Decline in Prosecutions for National Internal Security and Terrorism |
| (02 Sep 2014) Criminal prosecutions in the area of national internal security and terrorism have declined steadily since fiscal year 2002. See more... |
| Rise Seen in Asylum Denial Rates |
| (04 Aug 2014) The odds of an asylum claim being denied in Immigration Court has risen to 50.2 percent during the first nine months of 2014. See more... |
| Decline in Federal Medical Malpractice Lawsuits |
| (23 Jul 2014) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during June 2014 the government reported 79 new personal injury - medical malpractice lawsuits filed. See more... |
| New Data on Unaccompanied Children in Immigration Court |
| (15 Jul 2014) Records just obtained under the Freedom of Information Act offer new insights about government policies governing the handling of the recent surge of unaccompanied children seeking entry into the United States. See more... |
| Juvenile Cases Help Push Immigration Court Backlog to New High |
| (10 Jul 2014) As of the end of June 2014, the number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts has climbed to an all time high of 375,503 -- an increase of more than 50,000 since the start of FY 2013 -- according to very timely government enforcement data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. See more... |
| Official Corruption Prosecutions Decline Under Obama |
| (07 Jul 2014) Recent data from the Justice Department show that 302 individuals have been prosecuted for criminal corruption offenses during the first seven months of FY 2014. See more... |
| Recent Trends in Naturalization Application Lawsuits |
| (30 Jun 2014) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during May 2014 the government reported 195 new civil filings in the category of immigration and naturalization disputes. See more... |
| Despite Rise in Felony Charges, Most Immigration Convictions Remain Misdemeanors |
| (26 Jun 2014) Convictions for the petty offense of illegal entry continue to dominate the criminal enforcement of federal immigration laws, according to a new analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) of case-by case records from the Justice Department. See more... |
| After Two Year Decline, Foreclosure Civil Filings Beginning to Rise |
| (29 May 2014) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during April 2014 the government reported 374 new foreclosure civil filings. See more... |
| ICE Continues to Block Public Access to Immigration Enforcement Data |
| (19 May 2014) The co-directors of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University have filed suit charging ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with multiple violations of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Administrative Practices Act and the administrative rules of both agencies. See more... |
| Arizona Driving Changes in Criminal Immigration Re-entry Prosecutions |
| (13 May 2014) The latest available data from the Justice Department covering the first six months of FY 2014 indicate that substantial changes are occurring in the criminal enforcement of the immigration laws, particularly among those districts along the border with Mexico. See more... |
| Securities/Commodities/Exchange Civil Filings Jump 43% |
| (08 May 2014) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during March 2014 the government reported a 43 percent jump in new securities/commodities/exchange civil filings. See more... |
| Social Security Administration Prosecutions Rose 20% in FY 2013 |
| (30 Apr 2014) Recent data from the Justice Department show that during FY 2013 there were 682 criminal prosecutions referred by the Social Security Administration. See more... |
| ICE Rarely Uses Prosecutorial Discretion to Close Immigration Cases |
| (24 Apr 2014) The use of prosecutorial discretion (PD) by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to close cases in the Immigration Courts continues to be relatively rare -- only 6.7 percent of cases were closed on this basis between October 2012 and March 2014. See more... |
| IRS Finding Fewer Math Errors in Tax Returns |
| (15 Apr 2014) Very timely information on IRS enforcement activity and income reported on returns over the past twenty years, including graphical highlights, have just been released by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| ICE Deportation Data by Gender, Age, and Country of Citizenship |
| (10 Apr 2014) An individual deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in fiscal year 2013 was most likely to be a Mexican male about 30 years old, according to examination of the latest available agency records obtained from ICE by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University under the Freedom of Information Act. See more... |
| Secure Communities and ICE Deportation: A Failed Program? |
| (08 Apr 2014) Secure Communities, a massive government surveillance program launched in 2008 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has failed to increase the removal of its primary announced targets: noncitizens who have committed crimes other than minor violations. See more... |
| Federal Employment Lawsuits Dip Below 1,000 Per Month |
| (26 Mar 2014) The monthly average number of federal employment lawsuits has dropped below 1,000 for the first five months of FY 2014. See more... |
| Latest Comprehensive Information About Federal Tax Enforcement |
| (20 Mar 2014) Recent and very extensive information from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) about tax returns, audits and its own criminal enforcement actions are now available on the public web site of the Transactional Records Access Records (TRAC). See more... |
| Federal Drug Prosecutions Fall to Lowest Level in Over 13 Years |
| (18 Mar 2014) The monthly count of federal prosecutions for narcotics/drugs offenses has reached its lowest level since May 2000. See more... |
| Criminal Deportation Filings Dip to 12% |
| (13 Mar 2014) During the first five months of fiscal year 2014, only 12 percent of all filings in the Immigration Courts seeking to deport noncitizens have been based on alleged criminal activity. See more... |
| Tax Lawsuits Edge Downward |
| (21 Feb 2014) January 2014 data from the federal courts show that the number of tax lawsuits filed have declined nearly 10 percent in the past year, and are down over 30 percent from what they were five years ago. See more... |
| ICE Success in Obtaining Removal Orders Drops to 50% |
| (13 Feb 2014) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has had diminishing success in convincing Immigration Judges to issue removal orders. See more... |
| Post-9/11 Slide in FBI Prosecutions Stabilizes under Obama |
| (12 Feb 2014) The number of criminal prosecutions referred each year by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has fallen by about one sixth -- 16.8 percent -- during the Obama administration when compared with the Bush years. See more... |
| Targeting of ICE Detainers Varies Widely by State and by Facility |
| (11 Feb 2014) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed detainers on approximately half a million individuals during fiscal years 2012 and 2013, according to the latest government records obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University under the Freedom of Information Act. See more... |
| IRS Criminal Prosecutions Rise 23% Under Obama |
| (04 Feb 2014) During the Obama administration, the number of criminal prosecutions referred each year by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has risen by nearly a quarter -- 23.4 percent -- over the Bush years. See more... |
| TRAC Charges ICE, CBP With FOIA Law Violation |
| (03 Feb 2014)
On January 29, 2014 the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) filed suit in D.C. District Court under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), charging two major Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies with multiple violations of the FOIA. TRAC's suit asks the court to order Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to make public:
- a comprehensive directory of the information they collect about their immigration investigations and enforcement activities; - records detailing how these data are distributed as extracts or snapshots; and - copies of the latest data stored in four of their main internal data repositories. See more... |
| Naturalization Application Lawsuits Drop 50% in Five Years |
| (23 Jan 2014) December 2013 data from the federal courts reveal a continuing decline in new immigration suits against the federal government concerning naturalization applications. See more... |
| Surprising Variability in Immigration Detainer Trends by Gender, Nationality |
| (22 Jan 2014) Very recent government data reveal that while the number of detainers issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials has dropped by nearly a quarter (23 percent) since fiscal year 2012, there are striking differences in the trends when viewed by the gender and nationality of the individuals involved. See more... |
| Once Intended to Reduce Immigration Court Backlog, Prosecutorial Discretion Closures Continue Unabated |
| (15 Jan 2014) During the first quarter of FY 2014, seven percent of all Immigration Court cases were closed due to the exercise of prosecutorial discretion (PD), according to the latest case-by-case records (through December 2013) obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Prosecutions of Health Care Fraud Law Reach New High in FY 2013 |
| (14 Jan 2014) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during FY 2013 a record high of 377 individuals were prosecuted under the federal Health Care Fraud law (18 USC 1347). See more... |
| Fewest Consumer Credit Lawsuits Filed Since May 2009 |
| (06 Jan 2014) In November 2013 the federal government reported 586 new consumer credit civil filings, the lowest number of such lawsuits since May 2009. See more... |
| In Immigration Courts, Criminal Activity Continues to Drop as Removal Reason |
| (11 Dec 2013) Alleged criminal activity continues to turn up less and less often as the basis for new Immigration Court filings seeking removal orders. See more... |
| Immigration Prosecutions Reached All-time High in FY 2013 |
| (25 Nov 2013) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during FY 2013 immigration prosecutions reached an all-time high, with new cases being filed against 97,384 defendants. See more... |
| Over 1000 Appeals Court Documents Added to FOIAProject.org |
| (21 Nov 2013) Thanks to generous support from the CS Fund/Warsh-Mott Legacy, the FOIA Project has been able to expand FOIA lawsuit coverage to include many Court of Appeals cases filed or closed since the start of fiscal year 2001 (October 1, 2000). See more... |
| New Mexico Immigration Prosecutions Jumped 46% in FY 2013 |
| (13 Nov 2013) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first eleven months of FY 2013 New Mexico had the fastest growth in criminal immigration prosecutions -- a 45.7 percent jump -- among the nation's 94 judicial districts. See more... |
| Wait for Immigration Relief Longest in Nebraska, Oregon, Illinois Courts |
| (12 Nov 2013) For individuals who were ultimately granted relief, wait times in Immigration Court grew even longer last month. See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Up 85% From Five Years Ago |
| (25 Oct 2013) The number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts climbed to 344,230 by the end of fiscal year 2013, according to very timely government enforcement data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. See more... |
| Rise in Social Security Lawsuits |
| (24 Oct 2013) Over the past five years, the number of Social Security civil lawsuits filed in federal courts has risen over 60 percent, according to the latest available case-by-case federal court data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Fewer Immigration Removal Filings Based on Criminal Activity |
| (15 Oct 2013) Of all filings in the Immigration Courts seeking to deport noncitizens during fiscal year 2013, only one in seven (14.4 percent) have been based on alleged criminal activity. See more... |
| New ICE Detainer Guidelines Have Little Impact |
| (01 Oct 2013) Very recent government data reveal that new, stricter guidelines issued last December have had no discernible impact on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer practices. See more... |
| Decline in Motor Vehicle Product Liability Lawsuits |
| (27 Sep 2013) Over the past five years the number of motor vehicle product liability lawsuits filed in federal courts has dropped nearly 40 percent, according to the latest available data from the federal courts. See more... |
| Slump in FBI White Collar Crime Prosecutions |
| (24 Sep 2013) Prosecutions of white collar criminals recommended by the FBI are substantially down during the first ten months of Fiscal Year 2013, according to the latest available data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the Department of Justice. See more... |
| Few ICE Detainers Target Serious Criminals |
| (17 Sep 2013) Very timely case-by-case data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) show that no more than 14 percent of the "detainers" issued by the government in FY 2012 and the first four months of FY 2013 met the agency's stated goal of targeting individuals who pose a serious threat to public safety or national security. See more... |
| Removal of 190,000 Sought in US Immigration Courts in FY 2013 |
| (11 Sep 2013) TRAC projects that in fiscal year 2013 the U.S. government will file actions in Immigration Court seeking to remove over 190,000 individuals from the country, according to the latest data extending through the end of August 2013. See more... |
| Decline in Drug-Related Seizure of Property |
| (22 Aug 2013) In the last five years, there has been a gradual but steady decline in the number of civil lawsuits filed each month in federal courts for the drug-related seizure of property, according to case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Fourfold Increase in Prosecutions of Child Sex Trafficking Crimes Since 2008 |
| (21 Aug 2013) Federal prosecutions of cases involving the sex trafficking of children have risen 25 percent since last year, and are nearly four times what they were just five years ago. See more... |
| Prosecutorial Discretion Closed 1 in 4 Cases in Seattle, San Diego, Charlotte Immigration Courts |
| (12 Aug 2013) During the month of July 2013, ICE exercised prosecutorial discretion (PD) and agreed to close a total of 1,382 deportation cases that were pending before the Immigration Courts. See more... |
| New Information on FISA Judges |
| (09 Aug 2013) Central to the growing dispute about the legality and value of the very extensive electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) is the secret federal court that approves the search warrants authorizing the NSA's world-wide efforts. See more... |
| Decline in Voting Civil Rights Lawsuits |
| (29 Jul 2013) In light of the Supreme Court decision striking down the preclearance provision of the Voting Rights Act, and the announcement by Attorney General Holder that the Department of Justice would aggressively enforce remaining provisions to include "bailing in" the entire State of Texas, it is worth examining recent use of federal civil courts to enforce voting rights. See more... |
| Number of ICE Detainers Drops by 19 Percent |
| (25 Jul 2013) Very timely month-by-month data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) show that the immigration "detainers" issued by the agency are declining, according to information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. See more... |
| Most Racial Violence Civil Rights Cases Not Prosecuted |
| (23 Jul 2013) Since George Zimmerman was acquitted in Florida state court of all charges in the death of Trayvon Martin, there has been significant public speculation as to whether the federal government would pursue civil rights charges; one possibility would be a charge categorized as racial violence. See more... |
| Poor ICE FOIA Management Hinders Public Access to Immigration Records |
| (18 Jul 2013) Poor management of FOIA requests at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is evidenced by older requests being forgotten while the agency focuses on the newer ones, according to the latest ICE records compiled and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. See more... |
| Criminal Activity Cited in Smaller Fraction of Deportation Filings |
| (08 Jul 2013) During the current fiscal year, only 14.7 percent of the new filings in Immigration Court sought to deport noncitizens based on alleged criminal activity rather than violations of immigration requirements. See more... |
| Truth in Lending Federal Lawsuits Continue to Decline |
| (24 Jun 2013) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during May 2013 the government reported just 16 new lawsuits filed under the category of Truth in Lending, according to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Jump Seen in Federal Weapons Prosecutions |
| (10 Jun 2013) The latest available data from the Justice Department reveal a substantial jump in federal weapons prosecutions during March and April 2013. See more... |
| Over 100,000 Removal Orders Sought in Immigration Courts So Far This Year |
| (06 Jun 2013) During the first eight months of FY 2013 the federal government has filed actions in the Immigration Courts against 107,538 noncitizens seeking their removal according to the latest (May 2013) data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Legal Noncitizens Receive Longest ICE Detention |
| (03 Jun 2013) Timely Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data about the custody history of detainees who were deported or released by the government during November and December of 2012 shows wide variation in their detention times. See more... |
| ICE's FOIA Office Backlog Shows Ballooning Wait Times |
| (30 May 2013) The median time FOIA requests have been waiting unanswered in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)'s backlog has climbed 64 percent in just the last sixty days. See more... |
| Free Webinar: Who Is Being Taken into ICE Custody? |
| (29 May 2013) A free webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, June 5 at 2:00pm (Eastern US time) to present and discuss findings on current Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention practices, state-by-state. See more... |
| Civil Filing Information for April 2013 |
| (22 May 2013) There were 27,588 new civil court suits filed in federal district courts during the month of April 2013, up 14.9 percent from March. See more... |
| Decisions on ICE Detainees Vary Widely by State |
| (22 May 2013) Of the 1,500 individuals taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a typical work day, the latest ICE data record that about 1,000 were eventually "removed" -- deported and barred from returning to the U.S. for years. See more... |
| Where Individuals Enter ICE Custody: State-by-State Details |
| (20 May 2013) On a typical work day Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took 1,509 individuals into custody, according to the latest available ICE data from November and December 2012. See more... |
| Southern District of Texas Leading in Record Year for Immigration Prosecutions |
| (10 May 2013) Very timely Justice Department data show that during the first six months of FY 2013, the rate of federal criminal prosecutions for immigration offenses is up 9.8 percent over the previous year, with 50,468 such prosecutions reported as of the end of March. See more... |
| Removal Orders Running 18 Percent Behind Last Year's Pace |
| (06 May 2013) Immigration Judges are issuing removal orders at a slower pace than last year, according to the latest (April 2013) data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| ICE's FOIA Requests Piling Up |
| (29 Apr 2013) At Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) there has been a rapid rise in the backlog of FOIA requests received that have been waiting unanswered for long periods of time. See more... |
| Foreclosure Suits Rising Again |
| (25 Apr 2013) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during March 2013 the government reported 592 new lawsuits filed under the category of Real Property - Foreclosures, according to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Domestic Terror Cases Outnumbering International Two-to-One in FY 2013 |
| (24 Apr 2013) During February 2013, there were 16 new federal criminal prosecutions for terrorism and national internal security offenses, according to the latest available data from the Justice Department. See more... |
| Wait Times in Immigration Courts Increase in March |
| (11 Apr 2013) Wait times in the Immigration Courts continue to rise. See more... |
| Uncertain Impact of Slump in IRS Audits and Staffing |
| (09 Apr 2013) Compared with just two years ago, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is planning a significant 18 percent reduction in auditing efforts focused on large businesses during the current fiscal year, according to a very timely IRS planning document obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). See more... |
| Drop in Employment Civil Rights Lawsuits |
| (26 Mar 2013) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during February 2013 the government reported 950 new lawsuits filed under the category of Employment Civil Rights, according to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Media Making Fewer Challenges to Government Secrecy in Federal Court |
| (14 Mar 2013) Federal court records show that Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits challenging government secrecy by news groups have declined, according to an analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Reaches New High |
| (13 Mar 2013) The number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts has risen along with the average time these pending cases have been waiting. See more... |
| Weapons Prosecutions Slip from FY 2012 Pace |
| (06 Mar 2013) During January 2013, there were 493 new federal criminal prosecutions in the weapons category, according to the latest available data from the Justice Department. See more... |
| Spike in Criminal Prosecutions Caused by Jump in Immigration Referrals |
| (28 Feb 2013) The total of 15,313 federal criminal prosecutions in December 2012 was 14 percent higher than the previous month. See more... |
| Additional Data on U.S. Citizens and Green Card Holders Targeted by ICE Detainers |
| (20 Feb 2013) In TRAC's previous report on detainers issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents between FY 2008 and FY 2012, it was noted that detainers had been placed on 834 U.S. Citizens and 28,489 legal permanent residents (LPRs, or "green card" holders). See more... |
| U.S. Citizens Included As Targets of ICE Detainers |
| (20 Feb 2013) During a recent 50-month period covering FY 2008 through the start of FY 2012, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents issued nearly one million detainers. See more... |
| Three-Year Rise in Patent Lawsuits |
| (19 Feb 2013) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during January 2013 the government reported 530 new patent civil filings, according to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| ICE Requests for Deportation Orders Rise Slightly from Historic Lows |
| (15 Feb 2013) The latest available data from the Immigration Courts show that during January 2013 the government reported 15,174 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) filings seeking deportation orders. See more... |
| Federal Weapons Enforcement: A Moving Target |
| (13 Feb 2013) The number of federal prosecutions for weapons violations in FY 2012 was almost exactly the same as it was a decade earlier. See more... |
| Federal Prosecution Data for October 2012 Released |
| (08 Feb 2013) Federal criminal prosecutions totaled 13,764 for the month of October, according to the most recent data released by the Department of Justice. See more... |
| Free Webinar: Asylum Decisions by Immigration Judges |
| (22 Jan 2013) A free webinar is scheduled for Thursday, January 24 at 2:00pm (Eastern US time) to present and discuss findings on the record low asylum denial rates levied by judges in the Immigration Courts. See more... |
| FY 2012 A Record Year for Asylum Cases |
| (15 Jan 2013) The odds of an asylum claim being denied reached an historic low in FY 2012, with only 44.5 percent being turned down. See more... |
| ICE Requests for Deportation Orders Down 25% from Last Year's Pace |
| (10 Jan 2013) The latest available data from the Immigration Courts show that during December 2012 the government reported 14,898 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) filings seeking deportation orders. See more... |
| Deportation Orders Historically Low |
| (21 Dec 2012) The latest available data from the Immigration Courts show a continued decline in requests for deportation orders made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. See more... |
| FOIA Lawsuits Increase During Obama Administration |
| (20 Dec 2012) A new study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) has found that there were more court complaints asking federal judges to force the government to abide by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) during the first term of the Obama Administration than there were in the last term of President Bush. See more... |
| Federal Money Laundering Enforcement Efforts Lag |
| (14 Dec 2012) For the recently ended fiscal year 2012, there were 310 new criminal prosecutions for money laundering offenses, according to the latest available data from the Justice Department. See more... |
| Surprising Sentencing Deviations Within Many Courthouses |
| (26 Nov 2012) Very timely government data -- updated through July 2012 -- has found widely varied sentencing differences within many federal courthouses, according to a new report by the Transactional Access Records Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Continued Decline and Shifting Focus Seen in Criminal Immigration Prosecutions |
| (19 Nov 2012) The latest available data from the Justice Department show a continuing decline in the number of criminal prosecutions resulting from referrals made by agents of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Falls Slightly for the First Time in Years |
| (15 Nov 2012) October 2012 Immigration Court figures show the Court backlog dropping for the first time in years, shrinking by 1 percent to 321,633 cases. See more... |
| Striking Judge-to-Judge Differences in Federal Criminal Caseloads |
| (12 Nov 2012) An analysis of case-by-case records covering more than 400,000 defendants has found surprising variations in the criminal caseloads of individual federal judges for the nation as a whole and in some instances among the judges serving in the same courthouse. See more... |
| Consumer Credit Civil Lawsuits Starting to Fall |
| (06 Nov 2012) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during September 2012 the government reported 723 new consumer credit civil filings, according to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| DOJ Inspector General Overly Critical of EOIR Statistics |
| (02 Nov 2012) The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Justice Department has just released a report (at http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/2012/e1301.pdf) criticizing the statistics of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). See more... |
| TRAC Challenges ICE Claim That Data Are Off-Limits to the Public |
| (23 Oct 2012) On October 22, 2012 the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) filed suit in D.C. District Court under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) challenging a ruling by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that its master repository of investigations and operations information is off-limits to the public. See more... |
| Slower Pace for New Closures In ICE Prosecutorial Discretion Program |
| (15 Oct 2012) September 2012 Immigration Court figures show a slowing in the pace of new closures under ICE's Prosecutorial Discretion (PD) program. See more... |
| DEA Prosecutions Slip 14 Percent in FY 2012 |
| (01 Oct 2012) During the first ten months of fiscal year 2012, there were 11,782 new criminal prosecutions referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), according to the latest available data from the Justice Department. See more... |
| Latest Civil Filing Information, August 2012 |
| (25 Sep 2012) There were 23,221 new civil court suits filed in federal district courts during the month of August 2012, up 5.7 percent from July. See more... |
| Latest Immigration Court Numbers, August 2012 |
| (13 Sep 2012) TRAC's monthly bulletin on Latest Immigration Court Numbers offers very timely statistics compiled from case-by-case Immigration Court records we receive shortly after the end of each month. See more... |
| Copyright Suits Trending Upward |
| (04 Sep 2012) The latest available data from the federal courts show that during July 2012 the government reported 296 new copyright civil filings, according to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Federal Prosecution Data for June 2012 Released |
| (28 Aug 2012) Federal criminal prosecutions totaled 14,352 for the month of June, according to the most recent data released by the Department of Justice. See more... |
| TRAC Announces Monthly Immigration Bulletin |
| (15 Aug 2012) TRAC's newest monthly bulletin -- Latest Immigration Court Numbers -- offers very timely statistics that TRAC compiles from case-by-case Immigration Court records we now receive shortly after the end of each month. See more... |
| ICE Bypassing Immigration Courts? Deportations Rise as Orders Fall |
| (13 Aug 2012) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported a total of 39,426 individuals during May 2012, according to the latest available case-by-case records from ICE released to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) under the Freedom of Information Act. See more... |
| ICE Refuses FOIA Request on Immigration Court Filings |
| (07 Aug 2012) On August 7, 2012 the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) sent the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a letter responding to the agency's July 26 FOIA refusal to process TRAC's request for case-by-case information in anonymous form on the 75,044 Notices to Appear (NTAs) the agency had filed in the Immigration Courts during the first four months of 2012. See more... |
| Free Webinar Tomorrow: ICE Prosecutorial Discretion, Immigration Court Filings and Closure |
| (01 Aug 2012) A free webinar is scheduled for Thursday, August 2 at 2:00pm (Eastern US time) to present and discuss how the exercise of prosecutorial discretion by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has impacted the filing and closing of cases in the Immigration Courts. See more... |
| ATF Prosecutions Turning Around in FY 2012 |
| (31 Jul 2012) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that, during the first eight months of FY 2012, the number of prosecutions for weapons and other offenses referred by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has staged a turnaround. See more... |
| Drop in ICE Deportation Filings in Immigration Court |
| (30 Jul 2012) So far this fiscal year, there have been fewer Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) filings for deportation orders than in FY 2011. See more... |
| Rise Seen in Social Security SSID Benefit Lawsuits |
| (27 Jul 2012) The latest available data from the federal courts show that in June of this year there were 860 new SSID Title XVI lawsuits filed, most under US Code Title 45 Section 405 which allows for judicial review when Social Security supplemental security income (SSI) benefits are denied. See more... |
| Latest Details on ICE Prosecutorial Discretion Program |
| (23 Jul 2012) As of June 28, 2012 a total of 5,684 cases were closed under a special Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program announced last August. See more... |
| Immigration Backlog and Wait Times Reach New Highs |
| (19 Jul 2012) The number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts keeps rising, along with the average time these pending cases have been waiting. See more... |
| Consumer Credit Lawsuits Up 194% from Five Years Ago |
| (12 Jul 2012) The latest available data from the federal courts show that in May of this year there were 890 new consumer credit lawsuits filed, most under the Fair Debt Enforcement Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act. See more... |
| Federal Prosecution Data for April 2012 Released |
| (09 Jul 2012) Federal criminal prosecutions totaled 14,950 for the month of April, according to the most recent data released by the Department of Justice. See more... |
| ICE Prosecutorial Discretion by Location |
| (19 Jun 2012) As of May 31, 2012 a total of 4,585 cases were closed under a special Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program announced last August. See more... |
| Free Webinar Tomorrow: ICE and CBP Criminal Prosecution Trends by Location |
| (18 Jun 2012) A free webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, June 19 at 2:00pm (Eastern US time) to present and discuss trends by location in federal criminal prosecutions resulting from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) enforcement of federal criminal immigration laws. See more... |
| Decline in Federal Criminal Immigration Prosecutions |
| (12 Jun 2012) The latest available data from the Justice Department show a marked decline in criminal immigration prosecutions processed in federal district courts. See more... |
| Increase in Employment Discrimination Lawsuits Under the ADA |
| (30 May 2012) The latest month-by-month data from the federal courts shows that in April of this year there were 183 new lawsuits filed claiming employment discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). See more... |
| Free Webinar Thursday: ICE Targeting Trends by Nationality |
| (14 May 2012) A free webinar is scheduled for Thursday, May 17, at 2:00pm (Eastern US time) to present and discuss trends in new Immigration Court deportation proceedings for individual nationalities. See more... |
| Fifteen New Domestic Terrorism Prosecutions Filed in February 2012 |
| (09 May 2012) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that in February 2012 the federal government filed charges against fifteen individuals in investigations involving domestic terrorism, an uptick from the previous month when only four such prosecutions were filed. See more... |
| ICE Charges Criminal Activity in Fewer Deportation Proceedings |
| (08 May 2012) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to cite criminal activity as grounds for deportation less often than it used to, according to the latest Immigration Court data on new deportation proceedings. See more... |
| Recent Rise in Federal Suits to Recover Student Loans |
| (04 May 2012) The latest month-by-month data from the federal courts shows that in March of this year the government reported that it had sued 279 individuals in order to seek recovery of defaulted student loans. See more... |
| Thursday Webinar Focuses on Shifts in Immigration Court Orders and Backlogs |
| (24 Apr 2012) During the most recent quarter (January-March 2012), the Immigration Courts issued 2,429 fewer deportation orders than in the previous quarter (October-December 2011). See more... |
| White Collar Crime Prosecutions Down in January 2012 |
| (20 Apr 2012) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that in January 2012 the federal government prosecuted 546 individuals in white collar crime cases, down 13 percent from the previous month and down over 40 percent since August 2011, when there were 930 such prosecutions reported. See more... |
| Latest Data and Free Webinar on ICE Prosecutorial Discretion |
| (19 Apr 2012) A prosecutorial discretion initiative by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has resulted in the closure of a total of 2,609 Immigration Court cases, according to the latest data obtained and analyzed by TRAC, current through the end of March. See more... |
| Few Millionaires Audited by IRS Global High Wealth Group |
| (10 Apr 2012) Very timely data from the IRS show that a special government effort claiming to target "global high wealth" individuals -- including those with assets or incomes in the tens of millions of dollars -- completed audits on only 36 reporting income of $1 million or more in the nearly two and a half years since the program was announced. See more... |
| Top County's Income Drops 43 Percent in Two Years |
| (26 Mar 2012) Two years ago, the average adjusted gross income (AGI) in Teton County, Wyoming was the highest in the nation at $142,048. But newly released data from the IRS show that in filing year 2010, the average AGI in Teton county had dropped a precipitous 43 percent, down to $80,827. See more... |
| Civil Rights Prosecutions Up Sharply in December 2011 |
| (13 Mar 2012) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during December 2011 there was a sharp increase in the prosecution of civil rights crimes by the federal government. See more... |
| Wide Variations Seen in Federal Sentencing |
| (05 Mar 2012) An analysis of all criminal cases completed in the federal courts during the last five years has discovered extensive and hard-to-explain variations in the sentencing practices of district court judges working in many different districts. See more... |
| Defensive Standards Hinder FOIA Openness |
| (01 Mar 2012) When the Obama administration came to office in January 2009, it promised greater openness and transparency in government. See more... |
| Sharp Decline in ICE Deportation Filings |
| (21 Feb 2012) The number of deportation proceedings initiated during October to December 2011 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the nation's 50-plus Immigration Courts fell sharply to only 39,331 -- down 33 percent from 58,639 filings recorded the previous quarter. See more... |
| DEA Prosecutions Dip to Eleven-Year Low |
| (20 Feb 2012) Federal criminal prosecutions referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have dropped to the lowest level in 11 years, according to very timely data released by the Department of Justice. See more... |
| TRAC Upcoming Webinars: New Data Tracking ICE Prosecutorial Discretion |
| (13 Feb 2012) The Latest data tracking ICE prosecutorial discretion show that new filings seeking deportation orders in Immigration Court from October - December 2011 fell dramatically. See more... |
| Growth In Immigration Backlog Slowing |
| (08 Feb 2012) The number of cases awaiting a resolution before the Immigration Courts reached a total of 300,225 at the end of December 2011, up from 297,551 at the end of September. See more... |
| Share of Immigration Cases Ending in Deportation Orders Hits Record Low |
| (07 Feb 2012) TRAC's web-based tools monitoring ICE's exercise of prosecutorial discretion in the Immigration Courts have been updated with court data tracking outcomes through December 2011. See more... |
| DHS Referred Most Federal Criminal Prosecutions in October 2011 |
| (26 Jan 2012) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during October 2011 the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to enforce immigration and customs laws accounted for 59% of all federal criminal prosecutions. See more... |
| ICE Continues to Stonewall on Immigration Enforcement Data |
| (10 Jan 2012) On January 4, 2012 TRAC published data provided by ICE which indicated that many fewer individuals had been apprehended, deported or detained by the agency than had been claimed in its official statements. See more... |
| Agency's Immigration Enforcement Claims Not Supported By Own Data |
| (04 Jan 2012) Case-by-case records provided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show that many fewer individuals were apprehended, deported or detained by the agency than were claimed in its official statements: congressional testimony, press releases, and the agency's latest 2010 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. See more... |
| Record Number of Federal Criminal Health Care Fraud Prosecutions Filed in FY 2011 |
| (14 Dec 2011) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that federal health care fraud prosecutions reached an historic high last year. See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Rises for Another Year |
| (08 Dec 2011) The number of cases awaiting a resolution before the Immigration Courts reached a total of 297,551 at the end of September 2011. See more... |
| ICE Targets Fewer Criminals in Deportation Proceedings |
| (05 Dec 2011) New findings, data and accompanying web-based data tools -- updated through September 2011 -- are being released this week as part of TRAC's new report series allowing the public to monitor Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE's) exercise of prosecutorial discretion in the nation's Immigration Courts. See more... |
| Criminal Prosecutions for Financial Institution Fraud Continue to Fall |
| (15 Nov 2011) Federal criminal prosecutions for financial institution fraud have continued their downward slide despite the financial troubles reported in this sector. See more... |
| TRAC Webinar series: Tracking ICE Prosecutorial Discretion |
| (14 Nov 2011) TRAC has launched a bundle of new report series, with accompanying data tools and regular updates, which allow the public to monitor ICE's exercise of prosecutorial discretion in the Immigration Courts, as spelled out in Director John Morton's June 17, 2011 memorandum. See more... |
| September 2011 Sees SSA Disability Backlog Climb Ever Higher |
| (03 Nov 2011) Despite the Social Security Administration's longstanding goal of reducing the number of pending disability cases, very recent SSA data show that these matters continue to head in the opposite direction, reaching 771,318 by the end of September. See more... |
| Decline in Federal Prosecutions from ATF-Led Investigations |
| (24 Oct 2011) During the first ten months of FY 2011, federal prosecutions credited to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) have fallen almost 7 percent from the previous fiscal year. See more... |
| New Tools For Tracking ICE Prosecutorial Discretion |
| (21 Oct 2011) TRAC has launched a bundle of new report series, with accompanying data tools and regular updates, which allow the public to monitor ICE's exercise of prosecutorial discretion in the Immigration Courts, as spelled out in Director John Morton's June 17, 2011 memorandum. See more... |
| FOIA Court Challenges Up 27% in FY 2011 |
| (04 Oct 2011) The recently completed 2011 fiscal year saw 378 court challenges to the withholding of information by the federal government, up 27% from the previous fiscal year, according to district court information compiled as part of the FOIA Project (http://www.foiaproject.org). See more... |
| Immigration Court Backlog Climbs, Yet Criminal Cases Fall |
| (14 Sep 2011) The number of cases awaiting a resolution before the Immigration Courts reached a total of 285,526 at the end of July 2011. See more... |
| Federal Prosecution Data for June 2011 Released |
| (13 Sep 2011) Federal criminal prosecutions totaled 15,178 for the month of June, according to the most recent data released by the Department of Justice. See more... |
| Decline Seen in DHS Deportation Proceedings of Terrorists and Criminals |
| (08 Sep 2011) An examination of millions of case-by-case records show that the overall number of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deportation proceedings in the Immigration Courts in the decade after 9/11 were up by almost one half (45%) -- from 1.6 million in the ten years before the attack to 2.3 million in the ten years since. See more... |
| SSA Pending Disability Cases Continue to Climb |
| (22 Aug 2011) Despite the Social Security Administration's long standing goal of reducing the number of pending disability cases, very recent SSA data show that these matters continue to head in the opposite direction and climbed to 746,712 at the end of June. See more... |
| Health Care Fraud Prosecutions Up Sharply in FY 2011 |
| (17 Aug 2011) Very timely Justice Department data show that during the first eight months of FY 2011, the rate of federal prosecutions for health care fraud is up 85 percent over the previous year. See more... |
| Immigration Court Decision Times Growing Longer in FY 2011 |
| (28 Jul 2011) During the first six months of FY 2011, decision times continued to climb in cases disposed of by the Immigration Courts, according to timely government enforcement data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Immigration Continues to Top Federal Prosecutions |
| (19 Jul 2011) A total of 15,173 Federal criminal prosecutions were recorded as being filed during April 2011, according to the most recent data released by the Department of Justice. See more... |
| Latest Data on Asylum Decisions by Immigration Court Judges |
| (14 Jul 2011) Very timely information about the asylum decisions of 233 individual judges in the nation's special Immigration Courts is now available in a newly updated application developed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| TRAC Defends SSA Findings |
| (11 Jul 2011) The Social Security Administration's (SSA) critical response to a July 4 report by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) ignored the body of evidence presented by TRAC about systematic and hard-to-explain disparities within the SSA's court system. See more... |
| Social Security Administration Disparities Extensive, Overall Problem Increasing |
| (04 Jul 2011) A new and very detailed analysis of close to two million Social Security Administration (SSA) cases has found extensive and hard to explain disparities in the granting and denial of disability benefits. See more... |
| Government Falters in Effort to Reduce Massive Backlog of Disability Hearings |
| (20 Jun 2011) Very recent government data show that a concerted effort by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to reduce a massive and growing backlog in individuals awaiting a hearing on their requests for disability payments is faltering. See more... |
| Illegal Reentry Becomes Top Criminal Charge |
| (10 Jun 2011) Very timely Justice Department data show that during the first half of FY 2011 prosecutions for the crime of illegal reentry -- when Title 8, Section 1326 was the lead charge -- made up just under one quarter of all federal prosecutions and nearly half of all immigration prosecutions in the first half of FY 2011. See more... |
| New Judge Hiring Fails to Stem Rising Immigration Case Backlog |
| (07 Jun 2011) Despite the hiring of 44 additional immigration judges during the past twelve months, the number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts has continued to grow. See more... |
| Federal Prosecution Data for February 2011 Released |
| (17 May 2011) Federal criminal prosecutions totaled 13,092 for the month of February according to the most recent data released by the Department of Justice. See more... |
| Weapons Prosecutions Decline to Lowest Level in a Decade |
| (18 Apr 2011) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2011 the government reported 484 new weapons prosecutions, the lowest level since January 2001. See more... |
| IRS Global High Wealth Taxpayer Program Lags |
| (14 Apr 2011) Very timely data from the IRS shows that a new agency program to investigate how well or poorly high wealth individuals are complying with the nation's tax laws has gotten off to a very slow start. See more... |
| ICE Resists Abiding by Supreme Court FOIA Ruling |
| (05 Apr 2011) TRAC has sent a memorandum to the Executive Office of the President and the Office of Government Information Services concerning the refusal of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to abide by the Supreme Court's March 7 ruling in Milner v. Department of the Navy. See more... |
| New Website Tracks FOIA Withholding Challenges |
| (30 Mar 2011) Syracuse, NY -- Details about every new court challenge to the withholding of information by the Obama Administration are now available on a new website developed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| South Florida Leads Nation in Mortgage Fraud Prosecutions |
| (24 Mar 2011) Since FY 2008, when the Department of Justice began tracking the category, through the first quarter of FY 2011, just over half of federal mortgage fraud prosecutions -- 1,038 out of a total of 2,015 nationally -- were filed in only ten of the nation's 90-plus districts, according to timely data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| New tools provide updates on IRS audits and criminal enforcement |
| (14 Mar 2011) In anticipation of April 15, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) today posted updates to much of its data on the Internal Revenue Service. See more... |
| Federal Prosecution Data for November 2010 Released |
| (17 Feb 2011) Federal criminal prosecutions totaled 12,494 for the month of November according to the most recent data released by the Department of Justice. See more... |
| Immigration Case Backlog Still Growing in FY 2011 |
| (07 Feb 2011) Despite the recent hiring of additional immigration judges, the number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts has continued to grow. See more... |
| Federal Enforcement Shifts Under President Obama |
| (02 Feb 2011) A detailed analysis of Justice Department and other records has found that criminal enforcement under President Obama is significantly different than it was during the last two years of the Bush Administration. See more... |
| Federal Prosecution Data for September 2010 Released |
| (20 Jan 2011) Federal criminal prosecutions totaled 13,916 for the month of September according to the most recent data released by the Department of Justice. See more... |
| Federal Prosecution Data for August 2010 Released |
| (15 Nov 2010) Federal criminal prosecutions totaled 13,122 for the month of August according to the most recent data released by the Department of Justice. See more... |
| ICE Seeks to Deport the Wrong People |
| (09 Nov 2010) Immigration Court judges are rejecting a large and growing number of cases where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has sought to deport people from the United States, according to TRAC's analysis of very recent government data. See more... |
| As FY 2010 Ends, Immigration Case Backlog Still Growing |
| (21 Oct 2010) The number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts reached a new all time high of 261,083 matters by the end of September 2010, according to an analysis of very timely court data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Water Pollution Convictions Down Under Obama |
| (13 Oct 2010) During the first two years of the Obama administration, federal criminal convictions for water pollution remain lower than any year since the first Clinton administration. See more... |
| ICE Declares That Key Data It Holds Are "Unavailable" |
| (04 Oct 2010) The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) today charged Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of illegally preventing the public from obtaining information that would show what the government is doing and not doing to enforce federal immigration laws. See more... |
| Federal Prosecution Data for June 2010 Released |
| (15 Sep 2010) Federal criminal prosecutions remain at near-record levels, totaling 15,857 for the month of June according to the most recent figures released by the Department of Justice. See more... |
| Asylum Denial Rate Drops to Twenty-Five Year Low |
| (02 Sep 2010) Very timely Justice Department data show that Immigration Judges are declining substantially fewer requests for asylum. See more... |
| Federal Prosecutions in Arizona Hit Record High |
| (17 Aug 2010) Federal prosecutions in Arizona during the first eight months of FY 2010 were up by 26% over the same period last year and nearly double what they were FY 2008, the last year of the Bush Administration. See more... |
| Immigration Case Backlog Continues to Grow |
| (12 Aug 2010) The number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts reached a new all time high of 247,922 matters by the middle of June 2010, according to an analysis of very timely court data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| ICE Deporting More Noncitizens Than In Bush Years |
| (02 Aug 2010) For some months now, Republican figures including Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin have repeatedly criticized the Obama Administration for not enforcing federal immigration laws. See more... |
| Immigration Prosecutions Return to Highs of Bush Era |
| (15 Jul 2010) According to the most recent figures released by the Department of Justice, in recent months U.S. federal criminal immigration prosecutions by the two largest investigative agencies within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have increased to levels seen during the last months of the Bush administration. See more... |
| Immigration Prosecutions Once More on the Rise |
| (15 Jun 2010) After several months of moderation, U.S. federal immigration prosecutions have returned to the high levels of last summer. See more... |
| TRACFED Judge Data Updated through February 2010 |
| (10 Jun 2010) TRAC has just completed a major update to its information about federal judges. See more... |
| Immigration Case Backlog Continues to Grow |
| (24 May 2010) The number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts reached a new all time high of 242,776 matters at the end of March 2010, according to an analysis of very timely court data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Federal Terrorism Enforcement Takes a New Course |
| (18 May 2010) The dramatic post 9/11 surge in prosecutions that the government categorized as terrorism has undergone a four-fold decline, according to an analysis of timely Justice Department data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. See more... |
| Treasury Ignores FOIA Despite Obama Open Government Initiative |
| (05 May 2010) The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) has accused the Treasury Department unit that processes Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with secretly withholding government records about how it handles FOIA matters. See more... |
| Drug Prosecutions Surge in the Southwest |
| (19 Apr 2010) Federal prosecutors along the Southwest border with Mexico -- many already strained by the rise in their immigration caseloads -- are facing a new challenge: how to handle a sharp jump in drug cases. See more... |
| IRS Turns Away From Auditing Big Business |
| (12 Apr 2010) A special new TRAC report -- based on data extracted from the IRS under the Freedom of Information Act -- shows that in the face of growing federal deficits the agency's audits of the nation's largest corporations have sharply dropped in the last few years. See more... |
| New TRAC Report on the IRS |
| (31 Mar 2010) The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) today posted the latest edition of its annual report on the operations of the Internal Revenue Service. A special feature of this year's report is TRAC's Taxpayer Returns app, a sophisticated new research application that allows all Americans to easily examine the kinds of income flowing to the taxpayers in every state and the more than 3,000 counties in the nation. See more... |
| Agency Demands $111,930 For Database Description |
| (18 Mar 2010) The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) filed a protest today with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The protest objects to a demand that the university-based data research organization pay the agency $111,930 for a description of the information in one of its databases. See more... |
| Criminal Immigration Prosecutions Are Down, But Trends Differ by Offense |
| (17 Mar 2010) The latest case-by-case data from the Justice Department show that the rate of criminal immigration prosecutions the government reported during the first three months of FY 2010 is down by 8.8 percent compared to quarterly figures for last year. See more... |
| Backlogged Immigration Matters Climb, Details by Court Location and Nationality |
| (11 Mar 2010) Pending cases backlogged in the nation's Immigration Courts reached an all time high of 228,421 matters in the first months of FY 2010, according to an analysis of very timely court data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). The case backlog was up 23% since the end of FY 2008 and 82% from ten years ago. See more... |
| Federal Prosecution Data for November 2009 |
| (17 Feb 2010) The latest case-by-case data from the Justice Department show that in November 2009 (the second month of fiscal year 2010) the government reported 11,816 new prosecutions. See more... |
| Detention of Criminal Aliens: What Has Congress Bought? |
| (11 Feb 2010) A new TRAC study -- based on the analysis of hundreds of thousands of records obtained from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and an examination of its budget -- explores the changes in ICE's enforcement record since the beginning of FY 2005, when Congress drastically increased the agency's funding for the apprehension and detention of criminal aliens. See more... |
| Immigration Enforcement Drives FY 2009 Prosecutions To All-time High |
| (21 Dec 2009) The latest Justice Department data show that federal prosecutions reached an all time high in FY 2009. The surge was driven by a sharp increase in immigration filings. See more... |
| ICE Detainee Population Doubles, Individual Transfers Climb Even Faster |
| (02 Dec 2009) The number of individuals held in hundreds of different detention facilities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the just-ended fiscal year (2009) is estimated to have reached 369,483, more than twice what it was in FY 1999. See more... |
| TRAC Seeks Retraction From DOJ |
| (19 Oct 2009) In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, TRAC today asked the Justice Department to retract a department statement about our recent report on the government's troubled terrorism enforcement activities. See more... |
| Federal Prosecution Data for July 2009 |
| (14 Oct 2009) The latest case-by-case data from the Justice Department show that in July 2009 the government reported 14,706 new prosecutions. See more... |
| Federal Agencies Can't Agree on Who is a Terrorist |
| (27 Sep 2009) The federal government remains baffled by the question of who should be prosecuted as a terrorist and who should not. The continuing confusion on this key point -- eight years after the 9/11 attacks -- has at the same time weakened national security and undermined civil liberties. See more... |
| Immigration Prosecutions at Record Levels in FY 2009 |
| (21 Sep 2009) The latest case-by-case data obtained from the Justice Department for the first nine months of FY 2009 indicates that the prosecution of federal immigration cases has continued to surge in the Obama Administration. See more... |
| ICE Criminal Prosecutions Continue to Rise Under Obama |
| (21 Aug 2009) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during May 2009 the government reported 2,147 new prosecutions that had been referred by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 18.9% over the previous month. See more... |
| Criminal Enforcement Data Show FBI Improvements |
| (27 Jul 2009) Case-by-case information from the federal prosecutors indicates that the Federal Bureau of Investigations has improved selected aspects of its criminal enforcement efforts during the last five years. See more... |
| Immigration Enforcement Under Obama Returns to Bush-Era Highs |
| (21 Jul 2009) Very timely Justice Department data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) show that immigration enforcement under the Obama Administration is returning to the unusually high levels that were reached under President Bush. See more... |
| Sotomayor -- Tough on white-collar crime |
(08 Jul 2009)
A first-of-its kind analysis of the sentences imposed by Judge Sonia Sotomayor during her six years as a federal trial judge shows that she was more likely than her colleagues to send a person to prison, particularly those convicted as white collar criminals. Read this new TRAC report at
http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/judge/213The new findings about President Obama's Supreme Court nominee are based on an examination by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) of the records concerning more than 7,000 cases handled by the 52 federal judges who served in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) from FY 1993 to FY 1998. See more... |
| After Three Years, Reforms to U.S. Immigration Courts Still Not Completed |
| (30 Jun 2009)
A broad three-year Justice Department project to make the Immigrations Courts fairer and more effective has not achieved many of its specific goals, according to a point-by-point analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).
The partial failure of the ambitious project started by the Bush Administration in August 2006 leaves many problems for the Obama Administration and Congress to confront. See more... |
| Immigration Courts Show Decline in Judge-by-Judge Asylum Disparities |
| (22 Jun 2009) A detailed analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) of hundreds of thousands of records obtained from the Immigration Courts has determined that there has been a decrease in the hard-to-explain disparities in the rate at which judges issue denials in asylum matters. See more... |
| Still Not Enough Judges to Handle Increasing Immigration Backlog |
| (18 Jun 2009) A special new report from TRAC has determined that the failure to increase immigration judges -- promised by the Bush Administration in the summer of 2006 -- contributed to a substantial jump in the number of backlogged cases in the Immigration Courts. See more... |
| DEA Prison Rates Vary Across U.S. |
| (08 Jun 2009) In cases where the DEA is the lead investigative agency, there are significant geographic variations in the rates at which individuals convicted of criminal offenses get sent to prison. See more... |
| Immigration still driving prosecutions upward |
| (29 May 2009) After several months of declines since reaching all-time highs in September, new immigration prosecutions in February were up 22% from the previous month. See more... |
| Government Regulatory Prosecutions At Nine-Year Low |
| (27 Apr 2009) The latest case-by-case data from the Justice Department show that in January 2009 there were 129 new prosecutions for government regulatory matters, fewer than in any month since May 2000. See more... |
| New Data Show IRS Downgraded Large Financial Services Audits |
| (09 Apr 2009) Newly released data from the IRS show that only 15% of large financial services companies -- those with $250 million or more in assets -- were audited in 2008, compared with 64% of all other similar sized corporations. See more... |
| Targeting of Corporate Audits Questionable |
| (06 Apr 2009) By many measures, financial service firms -- banks, investment advisors, insurance companies, etc. -- dominate the corporate world in the United States, and account for three-quarters of the tax returns filed by all large corporations. Despite the overwhelming importance of this now very troubled segment of the U.S. economy, however, the IRS in FY 2008 only allocated 15% of its corporate revenue agents to the agency group with the special expertise for auditing large financial service corporations. See more... |
| Income Gap Widens Between America's Richest and Poorest Counties |
| (30 Mar 2009) According to TRAC's analysis of the latest available tax information, the income gap between the nation's richest and poorest counties continues to widen. See more... |
| IRS Audit Rate for Millionaires Nosedives |
| (23 Mar 2009) The IRS audit rate for millionaires plummeted in the just-ended fiscal year, according to agency data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Federal Prosecution Data for December 2008 |
| (18 Mar 2009) The latest case-by-case data from the Justice Department show that in December 2008 the government reported 13,457 new prosecutions. See more... |
| TRAC Challenges Government Privacy Claim |
| (16 Mar 2009) As part of its ongoing efforts to obtain information on the workings of the U.S. Federal Government, TRAC has asked the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to reverse its decision withholding government organizational information on the grounds that the release would violate the privacy of individual employees. See more... |
| U.S. Federal Terrorism Prosecutions Reach A New Low |
| (27 Feb 2009) The latest case-by-case information from the Justice Department show that in the final months of the Bush Administration new prosecutions for internal security and terrorism matters were far lower than they had been at any time since 9/11/01. See more... |
| Federal Funds Updated Through FY 2007 |
| (13 Feb 2009) The TRACFED website has been updated with the latest available information on federal expenditures. See more... |
| Immigration Cases Drive Federal Prosecutions to New High in FY 2008 |
| (12 Jan 2009) An unusually large surge in immigration prosecutions in the last months of FY 2008 means that the annual count of such filings more than quadrupled during the Bush Administration, according the latest available data from the Justice Department. See more... |
| Federal Prosecution Data for August 2008 |
| (25 Nov 2008) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that in August 2008 the government reported 13,566 new prosecutions. See more... |
| DOJ Now Tracking Criminal Mortgage Fraud Cases |
| (15 Oct 2008) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that for the first ten months of FY 2008, the federal government reported filing 151 criminal mortgage fraud cases. See more... |
| IRS Finally Releases Audit Data to TRAC |
| (09 Oct 2008) After flouting a series of court orders for over two years, the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday turned over to TRAC thousands of pages of agency statistics on audits of all types, including individual, corporate, partnership and S corporation audits. See more... |
| IRS White Collar Crime Prosecutions Through June 2008 |
| (06 Oct 2008) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first nine months of fiscal 2008 the government reported 609 new white collar crime prosecutions referred by the IRS. If this activity continues at the same pace, the annual total of prosecutions will be 812 for this fiscal year. See more... |
| TRAC Co-Director Testifies On DOJ Failures to Implement Immigration Court Reforms |
| (23 Sep 2008) Dr. Susan B. Long, TRAC co-director and Associate Professor of Managerial Statistics at Syracuse University's Martin J. Whitman School of Management, testified before a Congressional Subcommittee on immigration matters on Tuesday, September 23, 2008. See more... |
| Federal Prosecutions Climb in FY 2008 |
| (16 Sep 2008) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that for the first nine months of FY 2008, the federal government reported 111,874 prosecutions, a marked increase over the previous year. See more... |
| The "April Effect" — IRS Prosecutions Timed for Tax Season |
| (08 Sep 2008) As tax season approaches each year, the number of news stories on tax prosecutions seems to grow. See more... |
| Administration's Project to Improve Immigration Courts Lags |
| (08 Sep 2008) A new special report from TRAC has determined that key parts of a 22-point Bush Administration plan to make the Immigration Courts work in a fairer and more effective way have not been implemented. See more... |
| More Guilty Verdicts for ATF |
| (28 Aug 2008) According to enforcement data provided TRAC by the Justice Department, the percentage of cases referred for prosecution by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that resulted in a conviction increased to 62% in FY 2007, up from just 46.2% five years ago. See more... |
| Immigration Prosecution Surge Fueled by Border Enforcement |
| (15 Aug 2008) The latest available data from the Justice Department show that new prosecutions by Customs and Border Protection during the first eight months of FY 2008 have soared. See more... |
| Study Finds Fewer Immigration Judges, Even Though DOJ Promised More |
| (28 Jul 2008) Despite a Justice Department promise to seek funds for a substantial increase in Immigration Judges, the number of these judges today is below what it was in 2006, according to a special new report by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Update On Immigration Judge Asylum Decisions |
| (21 Jul 2008) New reports on the nation's 200-plus immigration judges are now available. The reports, covering how the judges decided asylum matters in the FY 2002 to FY 2007 period, are based on tens of thousands of very detailed records obtained and analyzed by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act. See more... |
| Immigration Overshadows All Other Administration Enforcement Efforts |
| (17 Jul 2008) Immigration cases continue to heavily dominate federal enforcement efforts, making up well over half -- 58% -- of all federal prosecutions in April, according to timely data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). See more... |
| Wide Geographic Variations in DEA Sentences |
| (09 Jul 2008) The sentences imposed on individuals convicted in cases where the DEA was identified as the lead investigative agency vary widely in different parts of the country, according to Justice Department data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. See more... |
| FBI Prosecution Rates Vary Widely Around the Country |
| (23 Jun 2008) In FY 2007, federal prosecutors across the United States ended up filing criminal charges in slightly more than half -- 55% -- of the matters recommended for such action by the FBI. But according to Justice Department data obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act, there was a wide district-to-district variation in the proportion of FBI referrals that resulted in an actual filing. See more... |
| Judge Orders IRS to Turn Over Data |
| (18 Jun 2008) In an important FOIA decision, Judge Marsha Pechman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington has ruled against the IRS in a case that in fact goes back to the mid-1970s. See more... |
| Surge in Immigration Prosecutions Continues |
| (17 Jun 2008) Federal immigration prosecutions continued their recent and highly unusual surge in March 2008, apparently reaching an all-time high, according to timely data obtained from the Justice Department by TRAC. The total of 9,350 such prosecutions was up by almost 50% from the previous month and 73% from the previous year. See more... |
| TRAC offers new ways to look at federal laws |
| (03 Jun 2008) TRAC has just added a unique new feature for displaying all the U.S. statutes cited by federal prosecutors as the primary charge in their prosecutions and convictions. See more... |
| Immigration Convictions Surge in February 2008 |
| (22 May 2008) Federal convictions in February 2008 resulting from immigration matters jumped to the highest point in recent history, according to timely data from the Justice Department. See more... |
| TRACFED Data Warehouse Service Interruption |
| (06 May 2008) TRAC's offices have moved! And now we're moving our servers to our new server facility. See more... |
| Immigration Prosecutions Reach Record High |
| (30 Apr 2008) In January 2008, there were 4,739 federal prosecutions classified as immigration matters, according to timely enforcement data from the Justice Department. See more... |
| IRS Audits of Largest Corporations Plunge to Historic Low |
| (13 Apr 2008) A special new report shows that the audit rate for corporations with $250 million or more in assets has dropped to its lowest point in the last 20 years. See more... |
| Tax Analysts and TRAC team up for IRS report series |
| (07 Apr 2008) Tax Analysts and the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) announced today that they have joined forces to provide tax practitioners and lawyers a new kind of information about the activities of the IRS, including the auditing of returns, the collection of taxes, and the enforcement of tax laws. See more... |
| Environmental Prosecutions Trending Downward |
| (02 Apr 2008) In December 2007, there were 20 federal prosecutions of environmental law, according to timely enforcement data from the Justice Department. See more... |
| Twenty Year Federal Enforcement Trends |
| (06 Mar 2008) A new TRAC study, based on our analysis of 6.8 million Justice Department records spanning the last twenty years, shows that when immigration matters are put aside, referrals for prosecution from other federal investigative agencies in relation to population have declined. See more... |
| IRS Flouts Court Orders |
| (11 Feb 2008) The Internal Revenue Service, defying three court orders, continues to withhold crucial statistical data the public needs to judge how the agency is enforcing the nation's tax laws. See more... |
| You Can Help TRAC |
| (10 Dec 2007) As we come to the end of another year, we at TRAC would like to thank you for your past support and ask for your continued help. See more... |
| Child Pornography Prosecutions Down by Half |
| (07 Dec 2007) In August 2007, there were 62 federal prosecutions of child pornography, according to timely enforcement data from the Justice Department. See more... |
| Federal Spending Cooled Off in FY 2005 |
| (27 Nov 2007) The Federal Funds information in the TRACFED Data Warehouse has been updated through the end of FY 2005, the most recent data available from the U.S. Census Department's consolidated federal funds reporting program. See more... |
| A New Way to Look at Terrorism Enforcement |
| (08 Nov 2007) A special new TRAC terrorism page features a unique national map displaying the location of recent federal convictions for all individuals who have been categorized by the Justice Department as spies or terrorists, or those whose prosecution the government thought might prevent or disrupt potential or actual terrorist threats. See more... |
| White Collar Crime Prosecutions Lowest in Twenty Years |
| (01 Nov 2007) In July 2007, there were 434 federal prosecutions of white collar crime, according to timely enforcement data from the Justice Department. See more... |
| What Kind of DOJ Would Mukasey Lead? |
| (15 Oct 2007) If Michael Mukasey is confirmed as attorney general, he will preside over a Justice Department that brings a substantially different mix of federal prosecutions than when President Bush came into the White House in January of 2001. See more... |
| Government's Long-Term Drug Enforcement Effort Slumps |
| (09 Oct 2007) A total of 1,914 federal narcotics/drug prosecutions were filed in June of 2007. See more... |
| Updated Reports on Individual Immigration Judges |
| (24 Sep 2007) Along with the release of a report on asylum decisions, TRAC is providing an updated system for examining the record of more than 200 immigration judges. See more... |
| Massive Immigration Court asylum disparities persist, regardless of court location or nationality |
| (24 Sep 2007) From New York to Miami, from Los Angeles to Boston, from Chicago to Houston and in many cities in between, new government data show that extensive and hard-to-explain disparities have persisted in how immigration judges are deciding the thousands of asylum requests they rule on each year. See more... |
| Child Pornography Prosecutions Down in May 2007 |
| (11 Sep 2007) Only 70 new federal criminal prosecutions of child pornography were filed in May 2007, a decline of 12.5% from the previous month, and down over 41% from a year ago. The number of such prosecutions, which had been generally rising until 2005, is now lower than it was five years ago -- down 1.5%. See more... |
| Gonzales Resignation Provides Focus for DOJ Enforcement Record |
| (27 Aug 2007) After months of controversy, Attorney General Gonzales has announced his resignation. For comprehensive and very timely information about how the federal government enforced the law during the Bush Administration and how that compares with previous administrations See more... |
| TRAC Adds New Search Tools |
| (01 Aug 2007) TRAC has just made it a little easier to find, track and share information in our warehouse of federal criminal enforcement data. See more... |
| Federal Criminal Prosecutions Surged in March 2007 |
| (29 Jun 2007) Federal criminal prosecutions in March of 2007 jumped to 10,286 -- 22% over the level in the previous month. See more... |
| Federal Corruption Prosecutions Down |
| (18 Jun 2007) In February 2007, the government reports it filed official corruption charges against 37 individuals, according to timely enforcement data from the Justice Department. See more... |
| Study Finds Gap Between What DHS Does and What it Says |
| (29 May 2007) A new TRAC study, based on the analysis of millions of records from the Immigration Courts and the Justice Department, has found that the terrorism enforcement actions of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) do not appear to match the claims made in the agency's official statements. See more... |
| White Collar Crime Prosecutions Lowest in Five Years |
| (10 May 2007) In January 2007, there were 490 federal prosecutions of white collar crime, according to timely enforcement data from the Justice Department. Filings in this category are down 13% from the previous month, reaching their lowest level in the last five years. See more... |
| New edition of TRAC's IRS Web Site |
| (12 Apr 2007) New edition of TRAC's IRS Web Site, released April 12, 2007, finds that revenue agents are spending more and more time conducting face-to-face corporate audits that produce no revenue. See more... |
| Wyoming Leads in Federal Drug, Weapons Convictions |
| (04 Apr 2007) We've just updated our Bulletins page with the latest federal criminal enforcement data from the Justice Department. See more... |
| TRAC's Terrorism Report |
| (21 Mar 2007) TRAC's Terrorism Report, released March 21, 2007, shows that while criminal cases against those the government has classified as international terrorists are sharply down, surprisingly different trends can be seen in the prosecution of domestic terrorists and individuals involved in terrorism-related financial schemes. See more... |
| Terrorism Enforcement Trends -- International, Domestic and Financial |
| (20 Mar 2007) Analysis of timely case-by-case Justice Department data shows that while criminal cases against those the government has classified as international terrorists are sharply down, surprisingly different trends can be seen in the prosecution of domestic terrorists and individuals involved in terrorism-related financial schemes. See more... |
| Immigration Prosecutions Down From A Year Ago |
| (13 Mar 2007) Very timely monthly data available at http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/ on our special immigration site show that criminal immigration charges by federal prosecutors have substantially declined in the last year. See more... |
| Federal Drug Prosecutions Reach Five Year Low |
| (02 Mar 2007) Federal narcotic and drug prosecutions continue to decline, according to timely criminal enforcement data from the Justice Department. See more... |
| FY 2006 Criminal Data Available |
| (08 Feb 2007) TRACFED data on criminal enforcement activity has been updated to include all of FY 2006 and is now available to TRACFED subscribers. See more... |
| Major new offerings from TRAC |
| (06 Feb 2007) For several months, TRAC has offered on its public website at http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/bulletins/ very timely month-by-month reports and data tracking changes in the government's enforcement activities against white collar criminals, illegal drug peddlers, immigration violators and unlawful gun users and dealers. See more... |
| New Data on the Processing of So-called Aggravated Felons |
| (08 Jan 2007) Data recently obtained by TRAC from the DOJ and the DHS provide new insights about a complex, obscure and in some cases controversial procedure under which an estimated 300,000 non-citizens have been deported from the US in the last decade and a half after being categorized as "aggravated felons." See more... |
| New edition of TRAC's FBI Web Site |
| (06 Nov 2006) New edition of TRAC's FBI Web Site was released Monday, November 6, 2006. See more... |
| TRAC's Terrorism Report |
| (04 Sep 2006) TRAC's Terrorism Report, released September 4, 2006, shows that the government's prosecution of international terrorist suspects has sharply declined in the last few years. See more... |
| TRAC's Immigration Judges report |
| (31 Jul 2006) TRAC's Immigration Judges report, released July 31, 2006, shows vast differences in the rate at which the nation's 200-plus immigration judges decline hundreds of thousands of applications for asylum in the United States. See more... |
| TRAC Sues Immigration and Customs Enforcement |
| (10 May 2006) TRAC filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security in federal court asking that it order the accelerated production of information that TRAC had previously sought from ICE under the Freedom of Information Act. Through these FOIA requests, TRAC hopes to obtain specific unpublished information regarding non-citizens with criminal arrests or convictions. Read the announcement for further discussion and links to the full text of the complaint and motion. |
| TRAC's Privacy Policy |
| (19 Apr 2006) TRAC's Privacy Policy was updated April 19, 2006 to reflect the new use of persistent cookies in order to get more accurate counts of page visits. See more... |
| TRAC launched its Immigration Web Site |
| (04 Apr 2006) TRAC launched its Immigration Web Site April 4, 2006. See more... |
| TRAC Director Prevails in Lawsuit Against IRS Secrecy |
| (04 Apr 2006) A federal court has ordered the Internal Revenue Service to turn over extensive statistical information to Susan Long, the co-director of TRAC and a professor at Syracuse University. See more... |
| Federal Judges Updated Through FY 2005 |
| (28 Feb 2006) TRAC's criminal processing records of individual Federal Judges have now been updated through all twelve months of FY 2005. See more... |
| Federal Funds Updated Through FY 2004 |
| (07 Feb 2006) The Federal Funds layer is now updated through the end of FY 2004. See more... |
| Major new offerings in TRAC Bulletins |
| (06 Feb 2006) Major new offerings in TRAC Bulletins were released Tuesday, February 6, 2006. See more... |
| Criminal Enforcement Updated Through FY 2005 |
| (31 Jan 2006) TRACFED Criminal Enforcement data have been updated to include all of FY 2005. See more... |
| Major Update to Federal Judges |
| (17 Oct 2005) TRAC has just completed a major update to its information about Federal Judges. Through a multi-year research project, additional data have been gathered from numerous data bases as well as from telephone calls to individual districts and district courts. See more... |
| TRAC Report on Criminal Enforcement Changes in the Bush Years |
| (28 Sep 2005) TRAC Report on Criminal Enforcement Changes in the Bush Years released September 28, 2005. See more... |
| TRAC Report on Immigration Enforcement |
| (24 Aug 2005) TRAC Report on Immigration Enforcement was released on August 24, 2005. See more... |
| TRAC co-directors filed suit against the IRS |
| (14 Apr 2005) TRAC co-directors filed suit against the IRS on April 14, 2005. The IRS is illegally withholding information about its operations, claiming that the public release of some of it would compromise homeland security. See more... |
| New edition of our IRS Web Site |
| (11 Apr 2005) New edition of our IRS Web Site was released Monday, April 11, 2005. See more... |
| TRACFED Search Function Added |
| (28 Feb 2005) A whole new easy-to-use method for accessing the masses of data in TRACFED was installed on Monday, February 28. See more... |
| Federal Funds Updated Through FY 2003 |
| (26 Oct 2004) The Federal Funds layer is now updated through the end of FY 2003. See more... |
| An update to our FBI Web Site |
| (11 Aug 2004) An update to our FBI Web Site was released Tuesday, August 11, 2004. See more... |
| Federal Prosecutors Function Upgraded |
| (04 Aug 2004) TRAC has added more details to the Salary tool for Federal Prosecutors and the High Income Federal Employees tool. See more... |
| We redesigned the home page of TRAC's public site |
| (16 Jul 2004) We redesigned the home page of TRAC's public site on July 16, 2004 to reflect the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and other post-9/11/2001 initiatives that resulted in many changes in federal agency alignments. See more... |
| Federal Staffing Updated Through 1Q FY 2004 |
| (09 Jul 2004) Federal Staffing data have been updated through the first quarter of FY 2004 and are now available using the Analyzer tool. |
| Express and Going Deeper Updated |
| (10 Jun 2004) The Civil Express and Going Deeper tools have now been updated through the end of FY 2003. See more... |
| Federal Staffing FY 2003 Data in Going Deeper and Express |
| (04 Jun 2004)
Federal Staffing
data for the FY 2003 year-end are now
available using the Going Deeper
and Express tools.
The data have been available in Analyzer since 03.22.04.
TRACFED's Community Context layer has been updated to include the recently released 2002 census data. |
| New edition of our IRS Web Site |
| (12 Apr 2004) New edition of our IRS Web Site was released Monday, April 12, 2004. The IRS Lags in Business Enforcement. See more... |
| Federal Staffing Updated Through FY 2003 |
| (22 Mar 2004) Federal Staffing data for the FY 2003 year-end are now available in Analyzer. See more... |
| Prosecutors Contrast Function Updated |
| (19 Mar 2004) Prosecutors Express Contrast function is now available for FY 2003 for both Criminal and Civil data. |
| First Quarter FY 2004 Data Available |
| (08 Mar 2004) TRAC's ongoing FIOA efforts have allowed us to make data available in a very timely manner. See more... |
| Judges Contrast Function Updated |
| (27 Feb 2004) Judges Express Contrast function is now available for FY 2003 for both Criminal and Civil data. |
| Sentencing Details Added to Criminal Data |
| (12 Jan 2004) TRAC has added new details about sentencing to the Criminal area. See more... |
| Year-End FY 2003 Data in Criminal Going Deeper |
| (15 Dec 2003) As a result of TRAC's ongoing FOIA efforts, year-end FY 2003 data are now available with the Criminal Going Deeper tool. |
| TRAC Report on Terrorism Enforcement |
| (08 Dec 2003) TRAC Report on Terrorism Enforcement in the two years since 9/11 was released Monday, December 8, 2003. See more... |
| Federal Staffing Analyzer Improved |
| (31 Oct 2003) Major improvements have been made to the data selection process for Federal Staffing Analyzer. Comprehensive menus are now available for search fields, eliminating the need to enter lists of specific codes. In addition, when creating your data slice, you can now combine data from one or more states (or districts or counties) as well as occupations, agencies and pay grades. |
| Criminal Express Updated Through FY 2003 |
| (28 Oct 2003) Criminal Express annual and monthly series data have now been updated through year-end FY 2003 (September 2003). |
| Judges and Prosecutors Updated Through FY 2003 |
| (24 Oct 2003) Express criminal and civil data listings for Federal Judges and Federal Prosecutors are now updated through year-end FY 2003 (September 2003). Criminal Analyzer and Civil Analyzer data have been updated through September 2003 as well. |
| Criminal Express Monthly Series Improved |
| (19 Sep 2003) Trend graphs for our Criminal Express monthly series have been improved and are now easier to read. See more... |
| Criminal Express Updated |
| (28 Aug 2003) Criminal Express monthly series data have now been updated through July 2003. |
| Judges and Prosecutors Updated Through July 2003 |
| (26 Aug 2003) Express criminal and civil data listings for Federal Judges and Federal Prosecutors are now updated through July 2003. Criminal Analyzer and Civil Analyzer data have been updated through July 2003 as well. |
| TRAC Report on Homeland Security |
| (25 Aug 2003) TRAC Report on Homeland Security was released Monday, August 25, 2003. See more... |
| Judges and Prosecutors Updated Through June 2003 |
| (01 Aug 2003) Express criminal and civil data listings for Federal Judges and Federal Prosecutors are now updated through June 2003. Criminal Analyzer, Civil Analyzer and Criminal Express monthly series data have been updated through June 2003 as well. |
| Judges and Prosecutors Updated Through May 2003 |
| (21 Jul 2003) Express criminal and civil data listings for Federal Judges and Federal Prosecutors are now updated through May 2003. Criminal Analyzer, Civil Analyzer and Criminal Express monthly series data have been updated through May 2003 as well. |
| TRACFED |
| (08 Jul 2003) During the last month or so, we have added several new features to TRACFED. Considered together these new features further enhance TRAC's unique subscription site that for several years has been helping news organizations, congressional committees, public interest groups, law schools and even federal agencies understand what the government actually is doing. See more... |
| Staffing Data Updated |
| (23 May 2003) The Federal Staffing database has been updated through the end of FY 2002 (September 2002). This is reflected in the Staffing Express, Going Deeper and Analyzer tools. |
| Greater Detail in Criminal Analyzer |
| (22 May 2003) As promised, much greater detail is now available on each criminal case through the Criminal Analyzer List function as well as Express criminal data listings for Federal Judges and Federal Prosecutors. Dozens of new items can be displayed on a case-by-case basis, including information on each charge filed in court followed to its ultimate disposition. See more... |
| New edition of our ATF Web Site |
| (19 May 2003) New edition of our ATF Web Site was released Monday, May 19, 2003. Agency referrals for gun prosecutions have almost tripled in recent years, sharply up from their 1997 low. See more... |
| Federal Judges and Prosecutors Updated Through March 2003 |
| (16 May 2003) Express criminal data listings for Federal Judges and Federal Prosecutors are now updated through March 2003. Criminal Analyzer data have been updated through March 2003 as well. |
| Civil Express Updated Through FY 2002 |
| (06 May 2003) The Civil Express tool now has been updated through the end of FY 2002. Data through February 2003 can be obtained using the Analyzer tool, which receives monthly updates. |
| Criminal Analyzer Upgraded |
| (02 May 2003)
TRACFED's Criminal Analyzer has been upgraded
with a set of pop-up menus which allow you to select from a list of over 3000 lead charges,
organized by title and section.
Also, Criminal Express monthly series data have now been updated through February, 2003. |
| Federal Judges and Prosecutors Updated |
| (25 Apr 2003) Express civil data listings for Federal Judges and Federal Prosecutors are now updated through February 2003. See more... |
| Criminal Going Deeper Enhanced |
| (24 Apr 2003) Much greater detail now available on each criminal case through Criminal Going Deeper. Now available for the first time dozens of new items including information on each charge filed in court followed to its ultimate disposition. See more... |
| New edition of our IRS Web Site |
| (13 Apr 2003) New edition of our IRS Web Site was released Sunday, April 13, 2003. Justice department data show criminal enforcement of the tax laws has plummeted to an all-time low and the downward trend is continuing. See more... |
| Criminal Going Deeper Updated Through FY 2002 |
| (24 Mar 2003) The Criminal Going Deeper tool now has been updated through the end of FY 2002. |
| Federal Judges Civil Data Updated |
| (21 Mar 2003) Express civil data listings for Federal Judges and Federal Prosecutors are now updated through January 2003. Civil Analyzer data have been updated through January 2003 as well. |
| Federal Judges and Prosecutors Updated |
| (17 Mar 2003) Express criminal data listings for Federal Judges and Federal Prosecutors are now updated through January 2003. Criminal Analyzer data have been updated through January 2003 as well. |
| Federal Judges and Prosecutors Updated |
| (28 Feb 2003)
Express criminal listings for Federal Judges
and Federal Prosecutors
are now updated through the first two months of FY 2003 (October and November 2002).
Criminal Analyzer data have also been updated through the first two months of FY 2003, plus you may now separately examine the criminal work of the U.S. Magistrate and U.S. District courts in your data slices. Criminal Analyzer has also received significant ease-of-use updates, making it simpler to select district, agency and program area through the use of pop-up menus. |
| Terrorism Enforcement in the 12 Months After 9/11 |
| (13 Feb 2003) Terrorism Enforcement in the 12 Months After 9/11: There are today few problems confronting the federal government that equal the challenge of dealing with the threat of terrorism. See more... |
| How Federal Judges Stack Up |
| (04 Feb 2003) How Federal Judges Stack Up: A central goal of all courts is to assure that similarly situated defendants are treated in similar ways. See more... |
| Federal Judges Updated Through FY 2002 |
| (04 Feb 2003) Updated information on federal district court judges (through the end of FY 2002) is available with the TRACFED Judges tool. A TRAC summary report focusing on the variations in sentencing for similarly situated defendents is also available. |
| Civil Enforcement Updated |
| (29 Jan 2003) Civil enforcement data have been updated through the end of fiscal year 2002 (September 2002). This updated information is available with the Analyzer tool on the Civil Enforcement layer. |
| Judging Federal Prosecutors |
| (24 Jan 2003) Judging Federal Prosecutors: New data on our TRACFED site (available January 24, 2003) gives subscribers an online way to examine the performance of individual assistant U.S. attorneys (AUSAs) in office from FY 1986 to FY 2002. See more... |
| Criminal Enforcement |
| (22 Jan 2003) Criminal enforcement data have been updated through the end of fiscal year 2002 (September 2002). This updated information is available with the Express (annual series only) and Analyzer tools in the Criminal Enforcement layer. |
| Federal Judges |
| (02 Dec 2002) Information on federal district court judges has been updated through April 2002 (criminal) and July 2002 (civil). A new "contrast tool" provides greater flexibility to contrast and compare records of individual judges over a ten-year period for different types of cases. See the Federal Judges tool. |
| FOIA review |
| (15 Nov 2002) The Civil layer has been updated with FY 2002 data (through July). The Criminal layer has been updated through April 2002; the Department of Justice is withholding more recent data pending its ongoing FOIA review. |
| Federal Administrators |
| (27 Sep 2002) New to the People layer is a tool for determining the salary of high-income (over $100,000 per year) federal employees, the ones most likely to be able to exercise discretionary power over the operation of federal agencies like the Social Security Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of the Interior or the IRS. See more... |
| Terrorism Enforcement Update |
| (05 Sep 2002) Terrorism Enforcement Update: With the one-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, TRAC has posted a brief supplemental report with the latest available information on terrorism enforcement (September 5, 2002). The new report, providing data about the referrals and prosecutions reported by the Justice Department during April, adds another month to TRAC's previous terrorism coverage. See more... |
| Judging the Judges |
| (26 Aug 2002) Judging the Judges: A new service on our TRACFED subscription site (available August 26, 2002) lets users review the work of most federal district judges who served from FY 1968 to FY 2001. See more... |
| Release of New Data on Environmental Enforcement |
| (14 Aug 2002) Release of New Data on Environmental Enforcement: (August 14, 2002) TRAC just received eight new data tables from DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division. See more... |
| Money Layer Updated Through FY 20001 |
| (07 Aug 2002) Money layer on TRACFED updated with federal expenditures through end of FY 2001. See more... |
| Federal prosecutors |
| (07 Aug 2002) Federal prosecutors: (August 7, 2002) After more than a two month delay, DOJ has released four tapes covering the activity through April 30, 2002 in the 94 U.S. Attorney Offices. See more... |
| Latest Federal Staffing Files Arrive |
| (06 Aug 2002) Latest Federal Staffing Files Arrive: (August 6, 2002) In response to a FOIA request, TRAC received 6 tapes containing latest Federal Staffing data — through March 31, 2002 — some 1.8 million records. See more... |
| TRAC Files for Summary Judgment on DOJ Data |
| (05 Aug 2002) TRAC Files for Summary Judgment on DOJ Data: (August 5, 2002) TRAC seeks a court order: to compel disclosure of lead charge information on referrals to federal prosecutors; to require release of identities of corporations and businesses involved in investigations U.S. attorneys decline to prosecute; to order disclosure of identifying details in asset forfeiture cases; and to order release of court docket details and agency tracking numbers. See more... |
| New edition of our INS Web Site |
| (29 Jul 2002) New edition of our INS Web Site was released Monday, July 29, 2002. This free service provides up-to-date information about how the INS is controlling U.S. borders, and how the agency has responded since 9/11. Also available is information about INS staffing, performance and district-by-district profiles. See more... |
| Community Context Update |
| (17 Jul 2002) Trends tool on community context layer now updated to give population tables and graphs covering 1970 through 2001, with details down to the county level. |
| Federal criminal enforcement |
| (28 Jun 2002) Additions to TRACFED Express: Now latest monthly series data (through March 31) on federal criminal enforcement allows examination of post 9/11 shifts in federal enforcement activities. See more... |
| New edition of our FBI Web Site |
| (17 Jun 2002) TRAC is releasing two new reports and has just added new data (through March 2002) to TRACFED. See more... |
| Major TRACFED Upgrade |
| (13 May 2002) TRAC has completed a major upgrade of its subscription site. See more... |
| New Release of IRS Data |
| (05 Apr 2002) New release of data on the Internal Revenue Service just added. Data embargoed until Monday, April 15 (6:30pm Sunday) release. See also TRAC's updated IRS public web site for new findings and analysis. |
| Community Context Layer |
| (11 Feb 2002) New trends tool have been added to the community context layer on TRACFED/FEDPROBE, which now features population by year complete from 1970 through 2000 for states, federal districts, and counties. See more... |
| TRAC Hardware Upgrade |
| (31 Jan 2002) The TRAC hardware platform received a major upgrade, with a resulting increase in system performance and capacity. |
| Criminal Enforcement Update |
| (20 Nov 2001) Data tracking criminal enforcement actions of the federal government through the first nine months of the Bush administration are now available to all TRAC subscribers. See more... |
| Federal Staffing Data Expanded |
| (02 Sep 2001) Federal Staffing greatly expanded (newsadvisory). Now includes over 25 years worth of data -- more than 50 million records -- over 100 gigabytes of information -- all at your fingertips. See more... |
| Federal Judges and Prosecutors Beta |
| (22 Aug 2001) Beta release of new databases on activity of federal judges and prosecutors. See more... |
| Civil Enforcement Express |
| (15 Aug 2001) Civil Enforcement layer now includes the Express tool for quick summary information and the analyzer tool for the creation of specialized data slices. See more... |
| Federal Funds Updated Through FY 2000 |
| (02 Jul 2001) Federal Funds layer now updated through FY2000. See more... |
| New Release of IRS Data |
| (05 Apr 2001) New release of data on the Internal Revenue Service just added. IRS audits of individuals and corporations as well as collection and IRS staffing data updated thru fiscal year 2000. New trends tool to view how these numbers have changed over time. See more... |
| IRS Enforcement Declines |
| (16 Feb 2001) The IRS has made public summary information about its declining efforts to enforce the nation's tax laws in fiscal year 2000. For your convenience, these tables are now posted here. Much more detailed information about the agency's audit and collection activities will soon be available on this site. |
| Federal Funds |
| (25 Oct 2000) Federal Funds (Express) provides a unique new information service about all federal expenditures -- for both direct payments and for insurance programs and loans -- from 1993 to 1999. See more... |
| Criminal Enforcement Update |
| (11 Oct 2000) Criminal Enforcement (Express) now offers a new on-line research tool for comparing the criminal enforcement activities of the federal government during the Reagan, Bush and Clinton years. See more... |
| Significant Improvements |
| (30 Aug 2000) TRAC has just made two significant service improvements. The first gives you a whole new category of enforcement data that has never before been available. The second involves a sophisticated new research tool enhancing your ability to organize the criminal enforcement info according to your individual needs. See more... |
| Federal Staffing Analyzer, and Updates to Web Locker |
| (06 Jun 2000) Federal Staffing Analyzer has been released. See more... |
| Updates to IRS Audits, Community Context and Federal Staffing |
| (01 Apr 2000) New release of data on the Internal Revenue Service just added. IRS audits of individuals and corporations updated thru fiscal year 1999. See more... |
| Community Context Update |
| (23 Nov 1999) Age, race, gender and ethnicity data in Community Context has been updated. Series now includes county, state, and federal district data, including detailed rankings, from 1990 through 1998. |
| Federal Staffing Update |
| (13 Oct 1999) Federal Staffing Going Deeper (Beta Version) has been enhanced to include State and County data. |
| Community Context Update |
| (13 Sep 1999) Community Context Express has been enhanced to include census data on employment by occupation and industry, information on banking (number of branch banks and deposits), number of physicians, and urban versus rural population. |
| FY 1998 Data in Federal Staffing |
| (22 Jul 1999) Federal Staffing Going Deeper has been enhanced to include fiscal year 1998 data, and the historical series has been extended back through fiscal year 1992; thus, you can now select records from the past seven years (1992-1998). |
| FY 1998 Criminal Data in Express and Going Deeper |
| (18 Jul 1999) Criminal Enforcement Express and Going Deeper have been enhanced to include fiscal year 1998 data; you can now obtain either the last five years (1994-1998) or have tables display seven years (1992-1998). |
| Web Locker Update |
| (20 Jun 1999) Web Locker now has the capability to display the criteria used to generate a Data Slice by simply clicking on the Data Slice name. |
| FY 1998 Criminal Data in Analyzer |
| (19 Jun 1999) Criminal Enforcement Analyzer now has fiscal year 1998 data available with selections for multiple fiscal year criteria for 1992-1998 & 1994-1998. |
| Web Locker Update |
| (13 May 1999) Web Locker's monthly job run counts now include individual counts for Analyzer, Going Deeper as well as Express. |
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