A study by The University of Syracuse based on federal data revealed that there were approximately 1.3 million asylum cases from this fiscal year (which started in October) still waiting for an immigration judge's decision by the end of April 2024. As a result, the Immigration Court backlog has increased to a total of 3,596,317 cases.
"So far this current fiscal year, DHS has added over 1.3 million new cases to the court's docket, while judges have completed just over half a million (517,675)", explains the report. That completion number, however, is a record number for a fiscal year, a sign that hints to lack of resources. "Although judges are unable to keep up with the flow of new cases into the courts, immigration judges are collectively on track to complete more cases than ever by the end of this year."
The study was made by The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a data gathering, data research and data distribution organization at Syracuse University which aims "to provide the American people — and institutions of oversight such as Congress, news organizations, public interest groups, businesses, scholars and lawyers — with comprehensive information about staffing, spending, and enforcement activities of the federal government."
The study also revealed other insights about immigration cases during 2024:
- Immigration judges have issued removal and voluntary departure orders in 35.7% of completed cases, totaling 170,165 deportation orders.
- Among the cases completed in April 2024, immigrants in Colorado had the highest percentage of negative rulings ordering their deportation. Denver migrants recently made the news when they refused to vacate encampment, choosing to send demands to the mayor instead.
- In contrast, immigrants who have their cases in the Vermont immigration court had the lowest rate of deportation orders.
- Miami-Dade County in Florida shows the largest number of immigrants who had pending deportation proceedings in court, while Hondurans top the list of nationalities with the highest number of expulsion orders.
- Only 13.9% of immigrants, including unaccompanied children, had a lawyer to help them present during their cases in court when an expulsion order was issued.
- Immigration judges have held 15,548 bail hearings so far in fiscal year 2024. Of these, 4,644 immigrants were granted bail.
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