Are immigration judges keeping up with rising caseloads?
The immigration case backlog has grown faster than hiring judges or completing cases can reduce it.
There’s long been a backlog of immigration cases — but it’s increased by a factor of nearly six from FY 2015 to 2024. In FY 2024, the case backlog reached 3.9 million. The backlog is a function of the number of new cases, the number of cases completed, and the number of available judges. Asylum applications are a large driver of new cases, but non-asylum cases have also increased in the last decade.
Since FY 2015, pending immigration cases have increased nearly 6X.
Pending cases, new cases, and case completions, FY 1983–2024 (2025 preliminary)
Through the third quarter of FY 2025, there've been 1.3 million fewer new cases than in 2024, and 116,000 fewer cases completed, with Q4 numbers still to come.
What types of cases do immigration judges hear?
Immigration judges are part of the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) and decide whether non-citizens can stay in the country. These cases are known as removal proceedings and involve people accused of violating immigration laws, like entering the US without permission or overstaying a visa.
Immigration judges also hear requests to avoid a removal order and other immigration-related matters, such as:
- Asylum and other humanitarian protections for people who fear harm in their home countries.
- Withholding or deferring removal under international agreements like the Convention Against Torture.
- Applications for adjustment of status, which allow someone to become a lawful permanent resident.
- Bond hearings, which decide whether someone can be released from detention while their case is pending.
- Review of certain Department of Homeland Security (DHS) decisions, like whether someone has a credible fear of returning home.
Immigration judges don’t handle visa or citizenship applications, or work authorization. Those are managed by the DHS.
Immigration judges also hear disciplinary cases for immigration attorneys and representatives accused of misconduct like misrepresenting clients, submitting false evidence, charging excessive fees, or otherwise failing to meet their professional obligations.
Why has the immigration case backlog been increasing?
Largely because of defensive asylum cases, although the numbers of other case types have increased too. In FY 2024, new defensive asylum cases were 50.8% of all new immigration cases filed, accounting for about 906,000 cases out of 1.8 million.
In FY 2024, asylum cases were 51% of new cases.
New immigration cases by case type, FY 2015–2024
There are two types of asylum claims, affirmative and defensive. Affirmative asylum is a proactive application for permission to stay in the US because a person has suffered persecution or fears they will suffer persecution if they return to their home country. Defensive asylum is an application against deportation once the US starts removal proceedings have started. Only the latter go before immigration judges.
Asylum cases have made up around a third to a half of new cases each year since FY 2015.
Immigration judges hear defensive asylum cases.
How many immigration judges are there?
In FY 2024, there were 735 immigration judges — the most in a decade but nearly unchanged from FY 2023’s 734. Through Q3 of 2025, there were 685 immigration judges on board at EOIR.
Since 2015, immigration judge hiring peaked in 2023 with 133 new judges. New hires fell to 46 in 2024, the lowest number since 2015; through Q3 of 2025, just 14 new judges have been hired. Prior to 2015, there was a DOJ-wide hiring freeze from FY 2011-2014.
The number of immigration judges has increased each year since FY 2015.
Total and hired immigration judges, FY 2015–2024 (2025 through Q3)
Despite the increase in judges, case numbers are increasing at such a rate that the immigration case backlog continues to grow. Judges in 2015 would have had to complete 2,594 cases per year to get through the backlog (they completed an average of 566).
By 2024, the average caseload was 5,286 per judge, two times what it was a decade prior.
Growing caseloads outpace judges’ capacity.
Immigration judge's yearly caseload and annual case completions, FY 2015–2024 (2025 preliminary)
What are the issues in hiring and retaining immigration judges?
Hiring and retaining immigration judges is a challenge for the EOIR.
Hiring one judge can take over a year. And 203 judges left their positions between 2012 and 2021, offsetting some of the hiring efforts.
Between FY 2017 and FY 2021, some judges left over performance quotas (to complete 700 cases per year), burnout, and concerns regarding limitations on judicial discretion. Other attrition was due to retirements and separations.
Observers have raised concerns about disparities in asylum outcomes, concerns about politicized hiring, and the limited immigration experience of newly hired judges. The Government Accountability Office has found that new judges who are “learning on the job” may complete fewer cases than experienced judges.
Hiring more judges, even if feasible, may soon hit a ceiling: the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act included a provision capping the number of immigration judges and necessary support staff at 800, starting on November 1, 2028.
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