The Executive Office for Immigration Review reports that the immigration court backlog has reached an all-time high of 3.5 million pending cases, with the average wait time for a hearing now exceeding four years in many jurisdictions. The staggering numbers represent a system that immigration judges, attorneys, and advocacy groups across the political spectrum agree is fundamentally broken.
Despite bipartisan acknowledgment of the crisis, legislative reform efforts have repeatedly stalled in Congress. A compromise bill that would have added 150 new immigration judge positions and established a right to counsel for unaccompanied minors and individuals with mental disabilities failed to advance past committee in March. Both parties have blamed the other for the impasse, while the backlog grows by approximately 50,000 cases per month.
The consequences for individuals caught in the system are severe. Asylum seekers wait years for their day in court while living in legal limbo, unable to fully plan their futures. Meanwhile, enforcement priorities are undermined as cases age and witnesses become unavailable. The American Immigration Lawyers Association has renewed its call for the immigration courts to be restructured as an independent Article I court, removed from the Department of Justice, to ensure judicial independence and more efficient case management.
