US Immigration Court Backlog Hits Record 3 Million Cases

Despite hiring hundreds of new judges, the Biden administration struggles to keep pace with the influx of cases.

Despite hiring hundreds of new judges, the nation’s immigration court backlog under President Biden has reached a record level, ballooning to more than 3 million pending cases in November.
The backlog has grown by about 1 million cases since November 2022, according to data compiled by Syracuse University’s Transaction Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC.
Record levels of migrants crossing the southern US border under Biden have left immigration judges swamped, with each judge now handling an average of 4,500 cases.
Nearly 2.5 million people were apprehended illegally crossing the border in fiscal year 2023 — a record-breaking total – and an estimated 670,000 migrants evaded capture.
The Biden administration has hired 302 new immigration judges to chip away at the backlog, raising the total number of immigration judges to 734, according to the Justice Department.