The Immigration Court Backlog (Finally) Falls
For the first time in 17 years, more asylum cases are closing than opening—though more can and should be done to narrow the gap.
Andrew “Art” Arthur
Nov 13, 2025
Perhaps the most influential force in the 2024 presidential election was voters’ smoldering anger toward the broken U.S. immigration system and their accompanying desire to see our border secured. But while it doesn’t get the most press, the massive immigration court backlog is the thorniest issue imperiling this goal. The mechanics of deporting illegal aliens are more complicated than most people understand. Before repatriating aliens with deportation orders, the Department of Homeland Security must obtain removal orders from a tiny pool of approved immigration judges. This lack of decision makers has caused adjudications to slow to a crawl in recent years.
In the meantime, aliens establish what are known as “equities,” meaning jobs, homes, and families, that make deportations more difficult. President Trump’s return to office, however, has allowed our nation’s immigration judges to do something they haven’t accomplished since 2008: decrease the backlog by closing cases faster than new ones are added.
This is a subject I know well, having served as an immigration judge between 2006 and 2015. Here’s how it happened, and what it means going forward.
https://www.commonplace.org/p/andrew-arthur-the-immigration-court?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2sds2a
