Data Dive: ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± Deportation Cases Hit Quarter-Century High
The backlog of cases in U.S. immigration courts has tripled since 2017 and is at record levels in ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾±. Most involve immigrants from China.
The incoming Trump administration has promised a mass deportation program that will identify and remove an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants from the United States.
A research center at Syracuse University, TRAC, has been collecting immigration statistics since 1989, which will be an important resource to assess the impact of future federal actions.
The TRAC (short for Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse) data is especially important for ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement doesn’t regularly release information specific to the state. Data for ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± is included with ICE operations in the San Francisco area.
Here are the facts based on ICE records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act:
A Record Backlog
As of Oct. 1, ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± immigration courts had 1,210 pending cases — the highest backlog on record.
796 of those cases involved immigrants from China, followed by 80 from Guatemala, 51 from Mexico, 42 from Russia and 41 from Vietnam.
As of this month, cases have been pending an average of 296 days from the notice to appear — the start of formal deportation proceedings.
Another 24 pending cases are related to criminal, national security or terror charges.
Nine of those cases involve people from the Philippines, and seven from the Federated States of Micronesia.
The backlog of cases in U.S. Immigration Court overall has tripled since 2017 and has 2 million cases pending.
The backlog was exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, a published last September found.
But cases are still being closed, according to the Executive Office for Immigration Review.
The nation’s immigration courts closed 906,000 cases in fiscal year 2024, including 852,000 deportation cases, the office found.
That’s the most case closures on record for a single fiscal year.
“If current rates continue, Immigration Judges will rule on more deportation cases in FY 2025 than any previous fiscal years,” TRAC said.
Post-Covid Surge
The number of in ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± is estimated to range between 41,000 and 50,500 according to different estimates by the ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and .
±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± Immigration Courts issued in the 2024 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the most recent release by the .
That’s the highest number since 2019 when there were 272 removals, but far below the record high of 447 removals in FY 2008.
(Removals are the same as deportations, but “removal orders” became the official term after the rules governing the deportation process were .)
The number of deportation cases introduced in the immigration courts in ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± during the 2024 fiscal year reached the .
The 888 new deportation cases introduced in FY 2024 exceeds the previous high of 867 in FY 2008. The totals are based on the number of Notices To Appear issued to respondents that fiscal year.
Deportation cases made up almost all of the 915 total cases introduced in ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± during FY 2024 — also the highest number since 2001.
Analysis by TRAC of 25 years of records nationwide found “the average percentage of deportation cases that result in a deportation order is around 46.4%.”
Removals have been ordered in 4,913 of the 11,871 deportation cases heard in ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± since 1998 — around 41% of the time.
(Note: Data reflects the fiscal calendar that runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 of the following year in line with federal budgets. Numbers were current November 2024, the most recent update available.)
