Over the years, the U.S. immigration court system has accumulated a growing problem that strains its capacity to respond to millions of people, becoming a ticking time bomb. Every new case that is filed and not resolved adds to a backlog that, over time, grows ever larger and more difficult to manage.
The data allows us to see something that an isolated figure cannot show, because the problem is not only how many cases accumulate, but how long people remain within the system waiting for an answer.
In more than two decades, the backlog of pending cases has grown from hundreds of thousands to over three million. At the same time, the median time to reach a judge's decision has increased from 116 days during the Bush administration to around 600 days in the current administration, revealing that the wait remains far longer than it was in 2001.
The issue is that behind those millions of cases lie very different processes; some are related to entries without inspection, and others to status violations, protection requests, criminal charges, or appeals. The backlog doesn't occur simply because more cases are arriving; it also depends on how many the immigration justice system manages to resolve and how long it takes to do so. As the queue grows, the wait times lengthen, and people remain in it longer.
Therefore, this snapshot of the last 25 years based on data from the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) not only tells the story of a number that grew, but also how a backlog of millions of cases was formed and how that situation ended up making waiting one of the main characteristics of the U.S. immigration system.
A system that, over the years, has accumulated millions of cases
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U.S. immigration courts are facing millions of pending cases, according to data from EOIR. The number of pending cases jumped from 294,304 during George W. Bush's administration in 2001 to 3,084,071 during Donald Trump's second term, representing an increase of more than 2.7 million cases, or 948%.
But if we look at the passage of time, it becomes clear that this increase was not constant. Initially, the number of pending cases grew to more than 816,000 between Bush and Obama, then to nearly 1.5 million between Obama and Trump's first term, but the biggest jump occurred during the Biden administration, when the number of pending cases increased to 3,862,145, the highest recorded in the last 25 years.
How many cases entered the courts and how many were resolved?
To understand why so many cases accumulated, we need to examine how many new cases entered the courts and how many of these were resolved. During the Bush administration, approximately 1.7 million cases were filed, and around 1.6 million were resolved. Then, under Obama, nearly 1.9 million cases were filed, but only about 1.4 million were resolved—meaning more cases remained pending than there were in 2004.
Then, during Trump's first term, fewer new cases arrived than during Obama's, about 1.4 million, but the number of completed cases also decreased, from 1.3 million to 792,000.
Without a doubt, the biggest change occurred during the Biden administration; in those four years, more than 4.5 million new cases were filed, a figure far higher than that recorded in previous administrations, and in turn, the courts also accumulated more pending cases, reaching around 2.1 million.
The difference is noticeable when comparing the average number of cases that arrived each year. While the Bush and Obama administrations did not exceed 300,000 and during Trump's first term almost 400,000 entered, with Biden the average exceeded 1,126,000, which means that during his presidency the number of cases that arrived tripled.
In contrast, during Trump's second term and through 2026, the situation has been different. While approximately 806,000 new cases were filed, around 1.5 million were also completed, indicating that the courts finalized more cases than they received, causing the backlog to drop to about 3 million. However, this figure remains very high and reflects that millions of people are still awaiting a decision on their cases.
Another fact that allows us to understand the scale of what happened is that during the Biden era, the number of pending cases reached 3,862,145, while during Trump the maximum was 3,841,426, a very similar figure, although Trump has only been in office for two years and still has the same number of years left in government.
This scenario then leads us to the question we seek to answer with this research: how long did a person have to wait to arrive at one of these decisions? And behind every decision, there is a process that can last months or even years.
How long can the wait for a decision be?
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It should be noted that cases that proceed through immigration courts do not always receive a quick response; data shows that, over the years, the wait to learn a judge's decision has become increasingly longer.
Between the formal commencement of legal proceedings and a judge's final decision, the wait time has steadily increased. During George W. Bush's presidency, from 2001 to 2004, the median (the middle value: half of the cases were resolved in less time and half in more) was 116 days. Under Barack Obama, it rose to 244 days, a 110% increase. During Donald Trump's first term, it reached 392 days, 61% more than the previous period, but the longest wait occurred during Joe Biden's presidency, reaching 751 days, a 92% increase. Meanwhile, for Donald Trump's second term, which runs until 2026, the median wait time decreased to 671 days, representing an 11% reduction.
This means that while half of the cases were resolved in less than eight months under the Bush administration, the wait reached one and two years, respectively, during the Trump and Biden administrations. Between Bush and Biden, the wait increased by 635 days, or almost two years.
But if we look at the historical data on how many cases are resolved in one or two years, the figures reveal how, with each change of government, the time required to obtain an answer has increased, adding months to the process. Let's look at the numbers: during Bush's presidency, 74% of cases were resolved in less than a year; with Obama, the figure dropped to 57%; with Trump's first term, it reached 48%; and with Biden, it reached only 31%. So far in Trump's second term, barely 25% of cases have been resolved in less than a year.
The change is clearly seen in cases that take more than three years to get a response; while under Bush they represented 6.7%, under Obama they rose to 16.5%, and under Trump 1.0 they climbed to 25%. But the highest period was reached under Biden, when they reached just over 40%; in Trump's second term, that proportion dropped to 23%.
This shows that the problem is not only that the courts have millions of pending cases, but also that it affects the time that people remain within the system: during the Biden era alone, four out of ten cases took more than three years, and between 2025-2026 that figure reaches about two out of ten.
The type of case may change the wait time
The duration also varies depending on the reason a person went to court. For example, cases related to entry without inspection went from a median of 80 days during Bush's presidency to 173 days under Obama, 367 days during Trump's first term, and 673 days under Biden; with Trump 2.0, they now reach up to 714 days.
But cases related to arrival without valid documents behaved differently; the wait was 414 days during Bush, dropped to 373 with Obama and then increased to 494 with the first Trump administration, then skyrocketed to 787 during Biden, and although in the last two years it has decreased, settling at 633 days, it still registers high times.
Without a doubt, one of the strongest changes appears in cases related to a status violation; the median went from 400 days during Bush to 747 with Obama, then dropped to 648 with Trump 1.0 but shot up to 1,483 days during Biden, and for Trump 2.0 it fell drastically to 136 days. Between these two periods the wait in this type of case fell by 1,347 days, which represents more than three and a half years.
Fraud-related cases are also among the longest-running; the wait went from 311 days under Bush to 680 under Obama, 1,102 under Trump 1.0, and reached 2,020 days under Biden, before falling to 230 under Trump 2.0.
Those who had requested protection also showed a prolonged wait. It went from 515 days under Bush to 831 under Obama, 923 under Trump 1.0, and 1,529 under Biden, before dropping to 893 days under Trump 2.0.
What the statistics map reveals is that one of the governments where the immigration system was slowest to respond to immigrants was that of Joe Biden, and although he was characterized by promoting policies to protect this population, the truth is that in practice this did not translate in that way and, paradoxically, during his term foreigners seeking some type of status or protection within the U.S. faced greater delays.
Appealing a decision can also add months to a process
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The wait doesn't necessarily end when the Immigration Judge (IJ) makes a decision. For example, if the case goes to appeal before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the process can be prolonged even further.
The data shows that the median time between the formal start of the process and a judge's final decision increased from 116 days during the Bush administration to 751 days under Joe Biden. During Donald Trump's second term, it decreased to 671 days. However, when the final decision of the BIA is also included, the time increases; the median rose from 119 days under Bush to 797 days under Biden and stands at 683 days during the current Trump administration. This means that, in cases that reach the appeals stage, the wait can extend beyond the judge's initial decision.
While the time required for a bail decision varies from one period to another, the differences are not as significant as those between the notice to appear and a judge's ruling, as we discussed earlier. During the Bush administration, the average time for a first, second, or final bail decision was 35 days; during the Biden administration, this increased to 40 days; and under Trump 2.0, it reached 56 days.
However, the difference shown by the data is important, since submitting the bail application does not mean that the decision arrives immediately, and from that moment until the first decision, the median has remained relatively short, between 5 and 10 days; during Biden it was 8 days and currently it is 7.
But how long can it take for an appeal to reach a decision from the Board of Immigration Appeals? Well, during Bush, the median was 388 days, with Obama it dropped to 185 days and with the first Trump administration it was 219 days; however, during Biden it increased again very significantly to 637 days, before dropping to 251 days in the second Trump administration.
In simpler terms, the figures show two very different speeds within the system: one thing is how long it takes for a decision related to the freedom of a detained person, so they can carry out their defense outside the detention center, and another very different thing is how long it takes for their entire immigration process to be resolved. The first can be measured in days; the second, in many cases, in months or even years, and when there is an appeal, the clock starts ticking again: a case that has already gone through a judge may still need several more months to obtain a final decision from the BIA.
The face of cases within the immigration system also changed
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Adding to the picture I've uncovered in this research is the fact that, decade after decade, not only has the number of cases in immigration courts increased, but the profile of the people who have appeared and continue to appear before a judge has also changed. Therefore, it's crucial to understand what types of cases enter the system in order to grasp which processes take the longest, undoubtedly impacting the lives of millions of people.
Entry without inspection is the main reason recorded in all periods; during the Bush administration there were more than 1 million cases associated with this condition, with Barack Obama there were also more than 1 million, but during the Biden era the figure skyrocketed to 3,175,472 cases, and although during Trump 2.0 it dropped to about 500,000, the data is still incomplete.
The second largest group corresponds to people who arrived without valid documents: it went from 86,000 cases during Bush to about 330,000 with Obama but increased to 1.2 million with Biden.
However, not all categories followed the same trend. Cases of status violations decreased from 256,000 under Bush to 61,000 under Biden, but they increased again under Trump, reaching 187,000. In other words, some of the charges that had lost weight began to grow again between 2025 and 2026.
Meanwhile, criminal charges show a much steeper decline and tell us about a new dynamic within U.S. immigration policy, as they went from 264,000 cases during Bush to 236,000 with Obama, 47,000 with Trump 1.0, 28,000 with Biden and 15,000 with the second Trump era.
Cases of fraud or misrepresentation followed a similar trend: they dropped from 38,000 during Bush to 22,000 with Obama, 7,000 with Trump 1.0, and with Biden they practically plummeted to almost 2,000, but with Trump 2.0 they have already risen slightly to 4,000.
And if we look at nationalities, we can see that the geography has also shifted over the last 25 years. Under Bush, Mexico was the leading nationality, accounting for 38% of cases. Under Obama, Mexico remained the most represented country, but under Trump's first term, Guatemala took the lead, followed by Honduras. With Biden, the map changed, and Venezuela became the most represented country, while Mexico fell to second place with 12%. Under Trump 2.0, Mexico once again topped the list, reaching 20%, followed by Venezuela with 11%.
25 years later, the wait continues to grow
Over the past two and a half decades, U.S. immigration courts have accumulated a backlog that now amounts to millions of cases and years of waiting. What began with 294,304 pending cases during the Bush administration grew to over 3 million during Donald Trump's second term, after reaching a peak of 3,862,145 under Joe Biden.
But the size of the backlog is only part of the story; the other part lies in the length of time a person must remain within the system. The median time to reach a judge's decision increased from 116 days under Bush to 244 under Obama, 392 under Trump's first term, and 751 under Biden. In the early years of Trump's second term, it dropped to 671 days, but that is still almost six times longer than in 2001.
The proportion of cases resolved quickly also changed. Under Bush, nearly seven out of ten cases were resolved in less than a year; under Biden, it was only three out of ten, and during Trump's second term (2025-2026), the figure dropped to two out of ten. At the same time, cases taking more than three years increased from 6.7% to 40% under Biden, before falling to 23.7% during Trump's second term.
And the wait is not the same for everyone; the data shows that, depending on the type of case, a person can face very different times: processes for entry without inspection reached a median of 714 days in the most recent period, while cases related to fraud reached 1,230 days and those that included a request for protection, 893 days.
This research also shows that the problem is not solely explained by the number of people who go to court; the number of cases filed, the number resolved by the immigration justice system, and the time it takes to resolve them are also important factors. During Biden's presidency, more than 4.5 million cases were filed, while in the first years of Trump's second term, approximately 806,000 cases were filed and nearly 1.58 million were resolved, thus reducing the backlog.
After 25 years, the picture is clear and shows that immigration courts face a much larger backlog than they did at the beginning; although some recent indicators show a reduction, waiting continues to be a central part of the experience of millions of immigrants, shaping many dynamics of their lives outside their countries of origin.
We cannot forget that behind each number there is a person waiting for a decision about their future, and as long as that queue continues to count millions of files, the question is no longer just how many cases the system can accumulate, but how long a person can wait before receiving an answer.
