Crushing Immigration Judge Caseloads and Lengthening Hearing Wait Times 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. At some locations, immigrants with pending cases now wait on average 1,450 days or more - over four years! - before their hearing is scheduled . See Figure 1.



(Click for larger image) Figure 1. Average Days Immigrant Now Waiting for Court Hearing by Location Despite promises to reduce the backlog, the latest case-by-case records show that the growth in the backlog has actually accelerated each year since President Trump assumed office. At the start of this administration, 542,411 cases were pending before immigration judges. By September 30, 2019, the backlog had grown to 1,023,767 "active" cases. Year-by-year the pace of increase has quickened. The active backlog grew 16.0 percent from January 2017 to the end of that fiscal year, climbed an additional 22.1 percent during FY 2018, and this past year jumped by a further 33.3 percent. Administrative Policy Changes Have Added to Crushing Caseloads While many sources for this rise are outside the court's control, policy decisions and practices by the Department of Justice which oversees the Immigration Court have significantly contributed to growing caseloads . For example, additional cases were added to the pending backlog when the Trump Administration decided to "open" many hundreds of thousands previously "closed" cases . Many of these cases have not yet been calendared so they don't show up on court backlog records. When the 322,535 cases that remain to be calendared are added, the current backlog climbs from 542,411 at the start of the Trump Administration to 1,346,302 cases today - a whopping 148 percent increase. The decision to reopen previously closed cases has single-handedly exacerbated the immigration court crisis, yet it has not received sufficient attention. This single policy decision has caused a much greater increase in the court's backlog than have all currently pending cases from families and individuals arrested along the southwest border seeking asylum. There are a reported 214,855 of these cases that originated through credible fear claims now pending before the court . Those who arrived during the recent months of the Trump Administration represent only part of this total . Despite the intense public focus on asylum cases originating at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months, their contribution to the immigration court backlog is clearly substantially fewer than the untold number of cases put back into the judges' workload when the current administration decided to unilaterally reopen long- closed cases . Crushing Caseloads Assigned to Each Judge The average caseload Immigration Court judges face has also continued to grow. This is despite the hiring of 92 judges over the past year - a net increase of 47 additional judges after accounting for judge resignations and retirements. The total number of immigration judges - including the last investiture of 27 judges on October 11, 2019 - brings the reported total to 442. (This total includes an unspecified number serving in administrative roles.) When this relatively small pool of judges are compared to the over one million cases in the backlog, on average each judge currently has an active pending caseload of over two thousand cases (1,023,767/442=2,316) and over three thousand cases when the additional un-calendared cases are added (1,346,302/442=3,046). These caseload figures have kept rising despite imposed production quotas implemented for the first time in FY 2019. Even with accelerated hiring of new judges, the average caseload for each judge has climbed by several hundred cases just since last April. See TRAC earlier report. Even if caseloads were frozen and the Immigration Court stopped accepting any new cases, it would still take the existing pool of immigration judges an estimated 4.4 years to work through this accumulated backlog - even assuming judges met this administration's imposed quota of each judge closing 700 cases a year. Clogged Dockets Lengthen Wait Times for Hearings It is inevitable that as more and more cases are placed on a single judge's docket, immigrants assigned to that judge must wait longer and longer before an available time slot opens up for their hearing. Prioritizing some cases to jump the que and be heard first lengthens wait times for others. For example, reassigning judges to new and existing courts along the U.S.-Mexico border to handle recent arrivals inevitably exacerbates wait times for the million other immigrants still waiting elsewhere in the country to have their cases heard. How quickly a case can be heard varies by court location according to the size of that court's pending caseload and how many judges are assigned to hear these cases. Individuals detained by ICE are generally given priority and their cases are heard more quickly. Thus, there is tremendous variation in currently scheduled wait times from an average of 37 days in the Immigration Court hearing detained cases in Cleveland, Ohio, to an average of 1,607 days for individuals assigned to the Immigration Court in Arlington, Virginia. The Arlington court exemplifies the rising backlog and wait times. At the end of April 2017 there were 28,272 pending active cases. This grew to 32,012 at the end of May 2018, and grew further still to 39,131 as of the end of September 2019. Projected average wait times have increased from 1,165 days in April 2017 to 1,400 days in May 2018, and finally to 1,607 days - or 4.4 years - in September 2019. Hearings are being scheduled as far out as December 18, 2023. In the New York City Immigration Court which has the largest backlog in the country, hearings are currently being scheduled five years out - all the way into December of 2024. Four other courts are scheduling hearings as far out as December 2023. These include courts in Chicago, Illinois; Houston, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and previously-mentioned Arlington, Virginia. Table 1 provides similar detailed statistics for each hearing location with at least 25 pending cases. Included are each court's pending caseload, the average wait time, and how far into the future new hearings are being scheduled. These statistics are merely projected figures for the average wait time based on the court's hearing schedule as of the end of September. Over half of these cases are waiting for their master calendar hearing - somewhat like an arraignment were this a criminal court. Thus, these projected wait times do not include further delays required to schedule any individual merit hearings after these initial master calendar hearings are held. Table 1. Active Pending Cases and Wait Times Until Hearings Scheduled by Court Location* State Hearing Location Active Pending Cases Average Days Latest Hearing Date Scheduled Already Waited More Until Hearing Projected Total Wait VA Arlington, Virginia 39,131 979 628 1,607 18-Dec-23 CO Denver, Colorado 11,708 1,149 417 1,566 16-Dec-22 CA Imperial, California 1,054 1,319 140 1,459 22-Oct-21 MA Boston Unaccompanied Juvenile 4,569 909 536 1,445 25-Nov-22 TX San Antonio, Texas 24,838 1,212 210 1,422 23-Feb-22 VA Arlington Juvenile 7,433 968 433 1,401 1-Sep-22 PA Philadelphia Adults With Children 109 1,246 155 1,401 25-Aug-21 NE Omaha Juvenile 1,646 905 455 1,360 5-Jan-23 IL Chicago, Illinois 39,127 862 474 1,336 21-Dec-23 NY New York City, New York 102,052 761 567 1,328 2-Dec-24 MI Detroit, Michigan 4,272 842 465 1,307 10-Jul-23 TX Leland Federal Building 19,800 992 315 1,307 17-May-23 NE Omaha, Nebraska 12,653 834 469 1,303 4-Apr-23 TX Houston, Texas 46,556 893 410 1,303 20-Dec-23 KY Louisville, Kentucky 6,576 633 585 1,218 15-Aug-22 MD Baltimore, Maryland 29,482 752 461 1,213 30-Oct-23 WA Seattle, Washington 13,101 782 428 1,210 30-Dec-22 NJ Newark, New Jersey 52,405 872 325 1,197 10-May-23 MA Boston, Massachusetts 28,463 811 361 1,172 8-Dec-22 CA Los Angeles, California 67,757 861 306 1,167 16-Mar-23 OH Cleveland, Ohio 12,851 808 358 1,166 30-Dec-22 NC Charlotte Juvenile 1,153 970 181 1,151 19-May-21 CA Van Nuys Immigration Court 14,787 856 291 1,147 6-Dec-22 CA San Francisco, California 66,497 813 329 1,142 26-Oct-22 GA Atlanta, Georgia 32,914 722 395 1,117 28-Dec-22 TX Dallas, Texas 26,772 695 409 1,104 22-Dec-22 CT Hartford Juvenile 784 780 264 1,044 14-Nov-22 NY New York Broadway 10,729 587 449 1,036 14-Aug-23 PA Philadelphia Juvenile 1,579 694 337 1,031 26-Jul-22 TX Southwest Key 2,028 773 258 1,031 25-Aug-22 OR Portland, Oregon 6,815 625 390 1,015 21-Dec-22 MN Minnesota Correctional Facility 77 749 215 964 19-Aug-20 LA New Orleans, Louisiana 18,085 499 437 936 29-Dec-22 TX El Paso, Texas 4,532 579 355 934 22-Dec-20 MD Baltimore, Maryland Juvenile 7,626 730 196 926 1-Apr-21 PA Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 17,665 524 384 908 11-Dec-23 AZ Phoenix, Arizona 11,162 600 298 898 29-Jun-22 CT Hartford, Connecticut 6,390 531 340 871 13-Dec-22 TN Memphis, Tennessee 20,704 451 409 860 14-Aug-23 PA Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1,070 629 222 851 13-Sep-21 MO Kansas City, Missouri 11,995 539 306 845 6-Feb-23 MN Bloomington 11,539 591 245 836 30-Dec-21 FL Orlando, Florida 26,279 450 352 802 30-Aug-22 NV Las Vegas Juvenile 437 574 209 783 26-Sep-22 FL Miami, Florida 52,291 546 232 778 31-Jan-22 MI Detroit Juvenile 1,758 471 304 775 18-May-23 TX El Paso Juvenile 95 722 32 754 7-Nov-19 TN Memphis Juvenile 1,528 377 366 743 3-May-23 NC Charlotte 20,529 419 304 723 25-Apr-22 IL Chicago Non-Detained Juveniles 1,892 487 232 719 13-Dec-21 ND North Dakota Vtc 128 552 158 710 25-Oct-21 CA San Diego, California 5,477 431 267 698 15-Nov-21 AK Anchorage, Alaska 62 591 97 688 19-Mar-20 SD South Dakota Vtc 405 501 175 676 6-Jan-21 GA Atlanta Detained Location 495 187 483 670 15-Dec-22 NV Las Vegas, Nevada 5,494 364 276 640 27-Oct-22 NV Reno, Nevada 920 441 190 631 13-Jul-21 AZ Arizona DOC- Perryville 44 479 131 610 14-May-20 IL Illinois DOC- Statesville 117 515 74 589 9-Jun-20 TX Harlingen, Texas 3,708 454 124 578 27-Aug-20 WA Detained Juveniles At Government Expense 34 440 131 571 6-Aug-20 ID Boise, Idaho 951 366 196 562 14-Jun-21 GA Georgia Department of Corrections- Diagnostic 133 438 120 558 10-Feb-20 TX San Antonio Non-Detained Juvenile 645 480 78 558 11-Aug-20 FL Mia Non-Detained Juveniles 3,273 413 141 554 24-Sep-20 AZ Arizona State Prison-Central Unit 30 485 66 551 7-Apr-20 MP Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands 246 472 78 550 23-Jan-20 VI St. Thomas, Virgin Islands 173 341 199 540 7-Aug-20 PA Pittsburgh Juvenile 96 377 151 528 11-Aug-21 NY Buffalo, New York 1,912 423 73 496 8-Jun-20 CA San Diego Juvenile 247 346 137 483 22-Mar-21 CO Denver - Juvenile 461 301 182 483 26-May-22 MN Bloomington Juvenile 716 306 167 473 3-Nov-21 TX San Antonio Satellite Office 430 153 319 472 28-Sep-20 PR San Juan, Puerto Rico 349 274 171 445 15-Jul-20 CA San Francisco Non-Detained Juveniles 1,969 273 168 441 12-Nov-20 VA Arlington Juvenile Detainees 60 355 76 431 15-Jan-20 TX Texas DOC- Huntsville 247 340 80 420 14-May-20 NY New York Varick 7,511 197 222 419 4-Aug-21 OH Ohio Dept. of Corr., Correctional Reception Center - ORI 43 354 57 411 13-Mar-20 CA Los Angeles Juvenile 89 323 82 405 8-Oct-20 NY Buffalo Juvenile 67 352 50 402 17-Dec-19 UT Salt Lake City, Utah 2,897 286 107 393 20-Aug-20 AZ Tucson, Arizona 816 257 93 350 1-Jul-20 MI Michigan Dept. of Corr., Prison of So. Michigan 25 156 135 291 28-Jul-20 HI Honolulu, Hawaii 201 218 55 273 2-Mar-20 CO Denver Family Unit 2,312 148 108 256 5-Aug-20 VA Arlington Detained Location 522 214 27 241 4-Dec-19 AZ Arizona DOC- Tucson 133 187 50 237 4-Mar-20 TX San Antonio Detained Juvenile 101 195 42 237 29-Jan-20 NY Downstate Correctional Facility 96 189 35 224 6-Dec-19 PA Pennsylvania Dept. of Corr., State Corr. Inst. 62 171 33 204 17-Dec-19 AZ Tucson Juvenile 95 143 54 197 21-Feb-20 TX Houston Service Processing Center 150 178 15 193 21-Nov-19 CA Juvenile Detained Sansome 27 148 35 183 16-Dec-19 CA Orange County Detained 357 88 92 180 24-Mar-20 NY Ulster Correctional Facility 68 130 37 167 19-Dec-19 CA San Francisco Detained 248 141 21 162 9-Jan-20 TX MPP Court El Paso Non-Detained 12,010 76 84 160 31-Mar-20 TX Harlingen, Texas 754 111 47 158 22-Apr-20 NY Batavia Service Processing Center 177 106 52 158 25-Feb-20 NY New York Service Processing Center (Varick St) 385 121 27 148 25-Nov-19 CA Pleasanton - Federal Correctional Institution 58 120 26 146 16-Dec-19 IL Chicago Detained Juveniles 216 83 59 142 12-Dec-19 TX El Paso Service Processing Center 392 110 32 142 7-Jan-20 NV Pahrump 107 95 43 138 13-Feb-20 LA Richwood Correctional Center 539 91 39 130 21-Jan-20 AZ Phoenix Juvenile 205 86 41 127 21-Feb-20 PA York County Prison 299 85 41 126 30-Dec-19 NY New York Juvenile-Detained 542 92 32 124 19-Dec-19 MN Bloomington Detained 195 103 19 122 4-Dec-19 AZ Florence, Arizona 962 80 41 121 23-Mar-20 CA Los Angeles Family 7,360 69 51 120 21-Apr-20 CA MPP Court Calexico Port 3,135 65 52 117 25-Feb-20 CA MPP Court San Ysidro Port 3,972 72 45 117 3-Mar-20 AZ Eloy INS Detention Center 762 85 32 117 10-Feb-20 TX Pearsall, Texas - Detention Facility 678 85 30 115 16-Jan-20 WA Northwest Detention Center 659 73 42 115 11-Mar-20 FL Krome North Service Processing Center 348 87 27 114 13-Dec-19 MA Boston Detained 576 85 26 111 16-Dec-19 NJ Essex County Jail 352 85 25 110 18-Dec-19 TX Bcfs Driscoll 58 88 22 110 19-Nov-19 CA Adelanto Detention Facility West 705 86 22 108 4-Dec-19 CO Aurora Immigration Court 457 76 30 106 21-Jan-20 TX MPP Laredo,texas - Port of Entry 7,884 39 67 106 17-Sep-20 NV Henderson Detained 106 63 42 105 4-Mar-20 GA Atlanta Immigration Court 427 75 30 105 17-Dec-19 LA Jackson Parish Correctional Center 624 73 32 105 10-Dec-19 TX Houston Female Detained 39 83 18 101 31-Oct-19 TX Southwest Key Program Casa Quetzal 46 78 23 101 26-Nov-19 AZ La Palma Correctional Center 793 60 40 100 30-Jan-20 GA Folkston Ipc - Annex 140 81 18 99 22-Nov-19 TX Conroe Immigration Court (Female) 83 68 29 97 25-Nov-19 NJ Elizabeth Detention Center 149 72 25 97 9-Dec-19 OH Butler County Sheriff's Office 47 82 13 95 5-Nov-19 NM Otero County Processing Center 317 67 27 94 12-Dec-19 CA Otay Mesa Detention Center 512 71 22 93 13-Dec-19 CA Adelanto Detention Facility East 163 71 22 93 19-Nov-19 LA Winn Correctional Center 649 67 25 92 6-Dec-19 CA Imperial Detained 201 65 25 90 21-Jan-20 LA DHS-Litigation Unit/Oakdale 507 65 25 90 6-Dec-19 LA River Correctional Facility 243 66 22 88 3-Dec-19 TX Karnes County Correction Center 697 39 49 88 21-Nov-19 TX Laredo, Texas - Detention Facility 178 66 21 87 19-Nov-19 TX Conroe Immigration Court 518 60 27 87 23-Dec-19 TX BCFS 63 73 12 85 12-Nov-19 OH Northeast Ohio Correctional Center 116 62 23 85 15-Nov-19 MO Kansas City Immigration Court - Detained 107 68 16 84 7-Nov-19 MI Detroit Detainees 170 56 26 82 20-Dec-19 TX Joe Corley Detained Female 128 64 18 82 9-Dec-19 CA Sacramento Juvenile Immigration Court 48 34 48 82 13-Jan-20 FL Glades County Prison 200 58 24 82 7-Jan-20 GA Stewart Detention Center - Lumpkin Georgia - LGD 780 54 28 82 3-Feb-20 CA Sacramento Immigration Court 1,151 41 41 82 22-Jan-20 TX Dallas Detained 34 64 17 81 28-Oct-19 PA Pike County Prison 93 54 27 81 30-Dec-19 LA Bossier Medium Facility 131 53 28 81 11-Dec-19 TX El Paso Detained 212 42 37 79 3-Dec-19 TX Polk County Detention Facility 483 53 26 79 18-Dec-19 LA Lasalle Detention Facility 514 54 23 77 16-Dec-19 PA Cambria County Prison 28 44 32 76 16-Dec-19 IL Chicago Detained 476 53 23 76 27-Nov-19 FL Broward Transitional Center 315 50 23 73 16-Dec-19 TX Joe Corley Detention Facility 147 49 23 72 6-Dec-19 TX Prairieland Detention Center 279 52 20 72 2-Dec-19 NE Omaha Immigration Court - Detained 99 42 30 72 20-Nov-19 PA Moshannon Valley Correctional Facility 46 39 30 69 23-Dec-19 TX Swk- Casa Montezuma (Swkcmtx) 47 58 11 69 12-Nov-19 TX Patrick E. Moore Detention Center 110 43 25 68 10-Dec-19 TX MPP Brownsville Gateway International Bridge 9,870 23 45 68 17-Apr-20 TX Southwest Key Sunzal 57 43 23 66 26-Nov-19 TX David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center 35 46 17 63 9-Dec-19 TX Johnson County Jail 105 41 20 61 3-Dec-19 TX T. Don Hutto Residential 292 42 19 61 20-Nov-19 TX Rio Grande Detention Center 122 35 19 54 26-Nov-19 LA South Louisiana Correctional Center 326 27 26 53 19-Nov-19 TX Port Isabel Service Processing Center 770 24 26 50 10-Jan-20 OK Kay County Detention Center 53 32 15 47 28-Oct-19 FL Immigration Court 88 33 14 47 28-Feb-20 TX Rolling Plains Detention Center 99 27 20 47 18-Nov-19 TX Eden Correctional Center 194 14 25 39 8-Nov-19 OH Cleveland Detained Location 26 24 13 37 30-Oct-19 Footnotes Wait times are calculated based upon the number of days immigrants have already been waiting since their Notice to Appear was issued plus the further wait required until their hearing is scheduled. Over half (56%) of the hearings scheduled are the first-step master calendar hearings, while the remainder (44%) are individual merit hearings which follow these. These court records were obtained through a series of Freedom of Information Act requests by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University from the Executive Office for Immigration Review. For an early example, see "Immigration Court Dispositions Drop 9.3 Percent Under Trump.". Also see "Immigration Court Filings Take Nose Dive, While Court Backlog Increases" and section entitled, "Why Does the Backlog Continue to Rise?" in TRAC's November 6, 2018 report. https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1064136/download. This EOIR number as of the end of June 2019 does not appear to include those cases that have already been re-calendared and put back on the active docket. EOIR's published figure is current as of March 31, 2019. The Executive Office for Immigration Review has thus far withheld court records that identify which court proceedings originated with a credible fear claim so that it is not possible to determine how many of these currently pending cases originated during the Obama versus Trump presidencies. There has been no accurate accounting of the number of cases affected by this change as publicly available court records were not necessarily updated to reflect this change. Only the component that has not yet been re-calendared of 322,535 is currently available from the court's published statistics. As EOIR explains, an individual's first appearance before an immigration judge in a removal proceeding is at a master calendar hearing. The purpose of the master calendar hearing is to advise the individuals of their rights, explain the removal charges the government has filed against them, take pleadings, identify and attempt to narrow the factual and legal issues, and set deadlines for filing any papers needed for subsequent hearings. TRAC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit data research center affiliated with the Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Whitman School of Management , both at Syracuse University . For more information, to subscribe, or to donate, contact trac@syr.edu or call 315-443-3563.