Courts with Longest Case Backlogs

Ranked by average time to decision, in months (minimum 500 cases). Statistical data from DOJ EOIR.

This is a court-level historical average, not a prediction of how long any individual case will take. Not legal advice: actual wait times depend on case type, docket load, and continuances; consult a licensed immigration attorney or accredited representative for guidance on your situation.

Wait times here are operational averages from the FOIA extract across the 77 courts we profile (a separate population from FY2015–2025 asylum grant rates). EOIR's wider archive goes back to 2001. See our methodology for detail.

Download the EOIR asylum statistics dataset (CSV) , open extract wired into this page's Dataset JSON-LD.

#1
Los Angeles - West Immigration Court
Los Angeles, CA · 30,667 cases
46 mo
avg wait
#2
Annandale Immigration Court
Annandale, VA · 19,103 cases
42 mo
avg wait
#3
Baltimore Immigration Court
Baltimore, MD · 16,562 cases
39 mo
avg wait
#4
San Francisco Immigration Court
San Francisco, CA · 49,818 cases
39 mo
avg wait
#5
Chelmsford Immigration Court (Detained)
Chelmsford, MA · 942 cases
39 mo
avg wait
#6
Sterling Immigration Court
Sterling, VA · 10,044 cases
39 mo
avg wait
#7
New York - Federal Plaza Immigration Court
New York, NY · 79,106 cases
39 mo
avg wait
#8
Omaha Immigration Court
Omaha, NE · 5,224 cases
39 mo
avg wait
#9
Portland Immigration Court (Detained)
Portland, OR · 4,996 cases
39 mo
avg wait
#10
Boston Immigration Court
Boston, MA · 19,472 cases
38 mo
avg wait
#11
Seattle Immigration Court
Seattle, WA · 17,027 cases
38 mo
avg wait
#12
Newark Immigration Court
Newark, NJ · 18,739 cases
38 mo
avg wait
#13
Indianapolis Immigration Court
Indianapolis, IN · 1,967 cases
36 mo
avg wait
#14
Concord Immigration Court
Concord, CA · 5,289 cases
35 mo
avg wait
#15
San Antonio Immigration Court
San Antonio, TX · 11,574 cases
35 mo
avg wait
#16
Chelmsford Immigration Court
Chelmsford, MA · 2,330 cases
34 mo
avg wait
#17
Hyattsville Immigration Court
Hyattsville, MD · 11,100 cases
34 mo
avg wait
#18
Los Angeles - Van Nuys Boulevard Immigration Court
Van Nuys, CA · 7,355 cases
34 mo
avg wait
#19
Charlotte Immigration Court
Charlotte, NC · 12,358 cases
33 mo
avg wait
#20
New Orleans Immigration Court
New Orleans, LA · 8,667 cases
33 mo
avg wait

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.