The backlog in immigration courts exceeds two million cases, with an average wait of four years

The backlog of cases awaiting a decision in the immigration courts exceeded two million in 2022, with waiting times of four years on average, and the number of pending asylum cases now exceeds 800,000, according to the research center. Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), Syracuse University of New York.

As of December 31, 2022, the number of cases pending in immigration courts reached

which marks a

The largest traffic jam is registered by the

courts , with 326,895 in total and, of them, 198,717 in Miami.

It is followed by

with 304,634 cases, of which 105,193 correspond to Dallas.

ranks third with 230,493 cases: of them, more than 40% in San Francisco (100,072), and another 20% in Los Angeles (43,866).

[This migrant crossed half the world clinging to some papers that were to grant him asylum in the US. He is now incarcerated]

A migrant in Ciudad Juárez in January. Jose Luis González / REUTERS

When Joe Biden came to the White House two years ago, the number of accumulated cases was 1.2 million, almost half what it is now.

The TRAC report, released last Wednesday, reveals a significant drop in the number of Venezuelans seeking asylum, particularly after the Department of Homeland Security included these immigrants in a humanitarian program in October that grants legal status for two years. to those who arrive by plane with a sponsor and expressly expels to Mexico those who try to cross the border due to the validity of Title 42.

The Government announced at the beginning of January the extension of this program to immigrants from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua.

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The number of migrants processed by federal authorities on the border with Mexico reached a record number in December, according to data revealed on Friday by the Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP), mainly due to arrivals from Cuba and Nicaragua. .

Agents processed 251,487 migrants, an increase of 7% compared to November;

of those, 14% had already tried it before in the last 12 months, according to CBP.

Since Joe Biden's arrival at the White House in January 2021, more than a million migrants have arrived in the country, who are now awaiting the resolution of their cases in the immigration courts, according to data released last September.

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According to the figures provided by TRAC at the time, when there were 1.8 million files pending, around a quarter of the backlogs had not even received their first appointment yet.

Because many cases are not resolved in that first appointment, more than 100,000 asylum seekers have been waiting more than six years to find out if they will be able to stay in the country.

There are two types of asylum claims: those from immigrants who are stopped at the border (known as affirmative) and those from those who were already in the country and filed when faced with the possibility of deportation (known as reactive).

[Most asylum seekers in Los Angeles have no legal support and face deportation

.

In general, the waiting time for a hearing is shorter in affirmative cases, with an average of four years, compared to four and a half years on average in reactive cases.

But the waiting lists have multiplied in the last decade for both: by two in the affirmative, and by 14 in the reagents.

The government implemented changes to the asylum system at the end of May to shorten the waiting times between an immigrant crossing the border and a judge deciding whether they should be deported or can remain in the country.

The change will allow asylum officers, and not just immigration judges, to process applications, and will also give priority to reviewing the files of those who have just arrived.

But as long as Title 42 remains in effect, its impact may be limited.