On January 20, 2017 when President Donald Trump assumed office, a total of 542,411 deportation cases were pending before the Immigration Courts throughout the U.S. Four years later at the start of 2021, the Biden administration will inherit a massive load of 1,290,766 cases—nearly two and a half times the level when Trump assumed office. Another 300,000+ cases have not been placed on the active docket and are waiting in the wings because former President Trump’s policy changes decided that this other batch of cases aren’t finally resolved.
During the four years since Trump assumed the presidency, the massive log jam of court cases can be attributed in part to the many policy changes that changed court operations and slowed case processing. However, the primary driver of the exploding backlog was not only the lack of immigration judges but the tsunami of new cases filed in court by the Department of Homeland Security. These factors accelerated the rate of growth in the case backlog through out Trump’s term in office.
The Biden administration will need more than four years to even make a small dent in the pile-up of cases awaiting resolution. Even if the Biden Administration halted immigration enforcement entirely, this gigantic pile-up of cases will be a seemingly intractable problem. This is former President Trump’s departing legacy.
During the four years since Trump assumed the presidency, the massive log jam of court cases can be attributed in part to the many policy changes that changed court operations and slowed case processing. However, the primary driver of the exploding backlog was not only the lack of immigration judges but the tsunami of new cases filed in court by the Department of Homeland Security. These factors accelerated the rate of growth in the case backlog through out Trump’s term in office.
The Biden administration will need more than four years to even make a small dent in the pile-up of cases awaiting resolution. Even if the Biden Administration halted immigration enforcement entirely, this gigantic pile-up of cases will be a seemingly intractable problem. This is former President Trump’s departing legacy.
