News from TRAC

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).

With the release of EOIR data updated through November 2024, Immigration Courts are on pace to close about 906,000 cases, including 852,000 deportation cases. If current rates continue, Immigration Judges will rule on more deportation cases in FY 2025 than any previous fiscal year.

As for Immigration Court outcomes, over the past two fiscal years, the number of deportation cases resulting in removal or voluntary departure has held steady at about 39 percent, resulting in more than 570,000 court-ordered removals. Thus far in FY 2025, Immigration Judges have ordered removal or voluntary departure in 45 percent of cases, the highest rate since FY 2020.

These findings come from an analysis of case-by-case Immigration Court records obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Other highlights from the November 2024 data, found in TRAC's updated Immigration Court Quick Facts tool, show:

Backlog: At the end of November 2024, out of the total backlog of 3,738,341 cases, 1,740,424 immigrants have already filed formal asylum applications and are now waiting for asylum hearings or decisions in Immigration Court.
Miami-Dade County, FL, has the most residents with pending Immigration Court deportation cases (as of the end of November 2024).
Immigration Courts recorded receiving 165,613 new cases so far in FY 2025 as of November 2024. This compares with 151,008 cases that the court completed during this period.
According to court records, only 0.74% of FY 2025 new cases sought deportation orders based on any alleged criminal activity of the immigrant, apart from possible illegal entry.
So far this fiscal year (through November 2024), immigration judges have issued removal and voluntary departure orders in 45.4% of completed cases, totaling 64,553 deportation orders.
Out of 62,734 Immigration Court deportation cases completed in November 2024, immigration judges issued 26,883 removal orders and gave voluntary departure to an additional 848 immigrants, meaning that deportation was ordered in 44.2% percent of all cases.
Out of 2,996 Immigration Court cases in which some form of relief was granted in November 2024, asylum was granted for 2,042 immigrants (68.2%) following their merit hearings.
Among Immigration Court cases completed in November 2024, immigrants in Montana had the highest proportion ordered removed. Rhode Island residents had the lowest proportion ordered removed.
So far in FY 2025 (through November 2024), immigrants from Mexico top list of nationalities with largest number ordered deported.
Only 16.8% of immigrants, including unaccompanied children, had an attorney to assist them in Immigration Court cases when a removal order was issued in November 2024.
Immigration judges have held 5,290 bond hearings so far in FY 2025 (through November 2024). Of these 1,319 were granted bond.

TRAC’s Immigration Quick Facts provides the latest data on immigrant detention, immigration court cases, and immigration prosecutions in federal court. Each page includes several key data points alongside a graphic or table, a short description for context, and a link to more data. Click here to see more about TRAC's entire suite of immigration tools.

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