Guide · why cases take years
Immigration Court Backlogs: Why Cases Take Years
US immigration courts carry about 3.1M pending cases across 76 courts in DOJ EOIR data, causes, wait times, and which courts are slowest.
Data updated 2026-09-05
- 3.1M
- Pending proceedings, all courts
- 282,346
- Largest single backlog: Miami Immigration Court
- 46.2mo
- Longest average wait: Los Angeles - West Immigration Court
What the data shows
Across 76 courts, about 3,052,076 proceedings sit pending - led by Miami Immigration Court at 282,346 open cases - while the longest average wait to a decision runs 46.2 months at Los Angeles - West Immigration Court.
Backlog size and wait time are two separate dimensions - a court can carry a huge pending count and still decide cases relatively fast, or the reverse.
The Scale of the Problem
According to US Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) FOIA case data (snapshot March 2026), the US immigration court system faces a structural capacity crisis. Across the 76 courts, roughly 3,052,076 proceedings are pending, open and not yet decided. New case filings have outpaced resolutions for years, so the backlog accumulates faster than courts can clear it. Average time to a decision now exceeds two years in many jurisdictions, and reaches 46.2 months at Los Angeles - West Immigration Court. See our methodology for how pending-case counts are computed.
Even during periods when EOIR added judges, the rate of new case filings outpaced the additional capacity. The result is a system where respondents may wait years for their day in court, during which their lives remain in legal limbo.
Impact on Respondents
Prolonged backlogs have concrete effects on the people in the system. Non-detained respondents may wait years while building lives in the US, finding jobs, enrolling children in school, forming community ties, only to face removal proceedings years later. Detained respondents may spend months or years in immigration detention facilities awaiting their hearings. Witnesses become unavailable, evidence degrades, and country conditions that were the basis for a claim may change dramatically during multi-year waits.
Which Courts Are Most Affected
PlainImmigration tracks backlog data by court. The courts carrying the largest backlogs are concentrated in major metropolitan areas, led by Miami Immigration Court at 282,346 pending proceedings. The geographic distribution of cases across courts is shaped by where immigrants live, where they are apprehended, and where detention facilities are located. The full ranking is in the table below.
Efforts to Reduce the Backlog
Various strategies have been attempted to address the backlog: hiring more immigration judges, creating dedicated dockets for specific case types, using video teleconference hearings to increase throughput, and administratively closing lower-priority cases to focus on others. The effectiveness of these measures has been debated, and no single intervention has reversed the growth trend. Structural reforms, such as establishing immigration courts as independent from the DOJ, have been proposed but not enacted.
What Drives the Backlog
Insufficient Judicial Capacity
The number of new cases entering the system each year consistently exceeds the number that judges can resolve, producing a deficit that compounds year over year. Adding judges helps at the margin, but the gap between filings and dispositions has kept the pending count growing for over a decade.
Policy Shifts and New Case Categories
Changes in immigration enforcement priorities can create sudden surges in case filings. The Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as "Remain in Mexico," diverted thousands of cases into specific courts along the southern border. When policies change, cases may need to be recalendared, reassigned, or reopened, adding administrative overhead to already strained dockets.
Continuances and Procedural Delays
Both respondents and the government frequently request continuances, delays in hearing dates. Respondents may need time to secure legal representation or gather evidence. The government may request additional time for background checks or document review. Each continuance pushes a case further back in an already lengthy queue.
Backlog by Court Type
Non-Detained vs. Detained Dockets
The immigration court system operates two parallel dockets. Detained cases, where the respondent is in immigration custody, are prioritized and generally resolved faster, often within months. Non-detained cases, where the respondent is not in custody, comprise the vast majority of the backlog and face multi-year wait times. This two-track system means that the most severe delays are concentrated among non-detained respondents.
Courts With the Largest Backlogs
The table below ranks the 12 courts with the most pending proceedings in DOJ EOIR FOIA data, with each court's average months to a decision and its asylum grant rate alongside. The backlog (an operational measure) and the asylum grant rate (a merits measure) are separate dimensions and do not track each other.
| Court | Pending Cases | Avg Wait (months) | Asylum Grant Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miami Immigration Court | 282,346 | 28.9 | 36.2% |
| New York - Federal Plaza Immigration Court | 224,664 | 38.7 | 74.7% |
| Orlando Immigration Court | 222,476 | 29.6 | 48.4% |
| Newark Immigration Court | 218,767 | 37.8 | 48.9% |
| Chicago Immigration Court | 200,079 | 26.8 | 61.3% |
| Dallas Immigration Court | 143,617 | 31.4 | 47.4% |
| Memphis Immigration Court | 122,509 | 31 | 40.8% |
| Atlanta - W. Peachtree Street Immigration Court | 118,212 | 31.7 | 39.2% |
| Charlotte Immigration Court | 117,797 | 33.4 | 35.3% |
| San Francisco Immigration Court | 110,651 | 39.3 | 72% |
| Boston Immigration Court | 83,713 | 38 | 52.7% |
| San Antonio Immigration Court | 81,165 | 34.5 | 54.6% |
Source: DOJ EOIR FOIA case data. Pending cases are open proceedings; average wait is months to a decision; the asylum grant rate covers asylum (I-589) cases decided on the merits, FY2015–2025.
Rural and Small Courts
Smaller courts with fewer judges can face disproportionately long backlogs relative to their caseload. A court with few judges handling thousands of pending cases faces the same structural constraints as a major metropolitan court, but with fewer resources to manage administrative overhead. Some respondents in rural areas must travel long distances to attend hearings, adding practical barriers to an already slow process.
Frequently Asked Questions
How large is the immigration court backlog?
Across the 76 immigration courts in DOJ EOIR FOIA case data, there are about 3,052,076 pending (open, undecided) proceedings. The backlog has grown over more than a decade as new case filings consistently outpace the number of cases resolved. Average time to a decision exceeds two years in many courts.
Which courts have the longest backlogs?
In this dataset, Miami Immigration Court carries the largest pending backlog, at 282,346 open proceedings. Courts in large metropolitan areas generally hold the biggest backlogs because that is where the most cases are filed; the longest average wait to a decision in the data is 46.2 months at Los Angeles - West Immigration Court.
What causes the backlog?
The primary cause is structural: the number of new cases filed each year consistently exceeds the system's capacity to resolve cases. Contributing factors include the number of immigration judges available, increasing case complexity, policy changes that create new case categories, attorney continuance requests, government continuance requests, and administrative processing delays.
Related Resources
Every figure on PlainImmigration is rendered directly from federal immigration court records, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on DOJ EOIR immigration court case data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-09-05.