Immigration security

A record half-million cases are waiting to be heard by US immigration courts

This summer, the backlog of pending cases in the system passed half a million. It is the most that US immigration courts have ever faced. As of July 31, 502,976 immigration applications were waiting to be heard, according to the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which oversees federal immigration courts. The average wait time for an immigration court petitioner is currently two years.

There are several reasons for the backlog: Violence in Central America has driven up illegal border crossings. Ramped-up US border enforcement is producing higher numbers of arrests that require adjudication. And for years, courts have been understaffed and underfunded, struggling to keep pace. All kinds of cases are now waiting to be heard, including people who entered the US legally and applied for asylum, and illegal immigrants who are afraid to return home.