FY2022 Seeing Rapid Increase in Immigration Court Completions

According to this report, immigration court case completions have been rapidly increasing. During the first eleven months of FY 2022, immigration judges have closed over 375,000 cases – a historical record. If the pace continues, closures should top more than 400,000 by the end of the fiscal year. This number is nearly three times as many case closures as in FY 2021. It is also roughly 50 percent higher than the previous high in FY 2019 during the Trump administration. Although the number of judges has grown from 449 in FY 2019 to 558 at the beginning of FY2022, the bulk of the increase seems to be explained by the types of cases handled by the courts. Like in previous years, the largest number of cases relate to deporation, but the types of outcomes show some significant differences. Judges have issued more removal (i.e. deportation) orders in FY 2022 than in the previous year. But the biggest growth in closures can be seen in three key areas: the much higher numbers of cases that are terminated, the higher number of cases in which the government never filed a Notice to Appear to begin with, and the return of the use of administrative closure or prosecutorial discretion to close a case that is not a priority for deportation.

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