By Jason Ankeny, Former INS/CBP Officer and Immigration Attorney
Every immigration case in the United States now waits behind a number, and this page tracks the official one. As of the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, there were 3,469,569 cases pending before the U.S. immigration courts, according to data published by the Executive Office for Immigration Review. This page is the Ankeny Law Immigration Court Backlog Tracker: the government’s own figures, updated as EOIR releases them, read by an attorney who spent more than 15 years inside the agencies that generate them.
The Backlog at a Glance
Three numbers define the current state of the immigration courts, all drawn from the EOIR Adjudication Statistics release generated July 24, 2026. The national pending caseload stands at 3,469,569. Courts received 391,145 new cases through the third quarter of FY2026. And courts completed 660,343 cases in the same period, which means that for the first time in this dataset, completions are running far ahead of new filings.
A Decade of Backlog: FY2016 to FY2026
The official year-by-year figures from EOIR’s pending cases dataset:
| Fiscal Year | Pending Cases | New Cases | Total Completions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 826,505 | 228,450 | 143,479 |
| 2017 | 975,995 | 295,259 | 163,071 |
| 2018 | 1,108,319 | 316,131 | 195,144 |
| 2019 | 1,391,386 | 547,236 | 277,073 |
| 2020 | 1,551,996 | 369,578 | 232,311 |
| 2021 | 1,694,255 | 244,264 | 115,965 |
| 2022 | 2,105,316 | 707,529 | 314,831 |
| 2023 | 2,811,599 | 1,206,102 | 526,812 |
| 2024 | 3,924,993 | 1,783,905 | 705,249 |
| 2025 | 3,722,776 | 562,375 | 798,808 |
| 2026 (through Q3) | 3,469,569 | 391,145 | 660,343 |
Read as a decade, the story is stark. The pending caseload more than quadrupled from 826,505 in FY2016 to a peak of 3,924,993 in FY2024, roughly a 4.2 fold increase. Since that peak the backlog has fallen two years running, down to 3,469,569 by the third quarter of FY2026, a reduction of more than 455,000 cases from the FY2024 high.
The Turn: Completions Now Outpace New Cases
The most important shift in the current data is the relationship between what comes in and what goes out. In FY2024, courts received 1,783,905 new cases and completed 705,249, so the backlog grew by more than a million cases in a single year. Through the third quarter of FY2026 the picture has inverted: 391,145 new cases against 660,343 completions. By simple arithmetic, courts are now completing about 1.7 cases for every new case filed, and monthly completions are averaging 73,371, the highest pace in the dataset.
How to Read These Numbers
Having spent more than 15 years inside INS and CBP, Jason reads this table differently than a headline writer does. A falling backlog driven by record completions is not the same thing as a slower system for any individual respondent. It means judges are moving dockets aggressively, hearings are being scheduled and held, and cases that once drifted for years are being pushed to decision. For a person in proceedings, that cuts both ways: less time to wait, and less time to prepare. The strategic consequence is simple. The era when a removal case could be treated as a distant problem is ending, and the respondents who do well in a fast docket are the ones whose evidence, witnesses, and legal theory were built early, a discipline we describe in our guide to fighting deportation in immigration court.
The Representation Gap
EOIR also publishes who stands in front of its judges with counsel and who stands alone. Per the current representation rates dataset covering completed FY2025 cases, 55 percent of completed cases, excluding in absentia orders, terminations, and dismissals, had legal representation: 143,614 represented against 119,519 unrepresented, out of 263,133 completed cases. In asylum cases the representation rate was 77 percent, and on case appeals it was 76 percent.
Turn that statistic around and it says something no one in proceedings should ignore: nearly half of the people whose removal cases were completed in FY2025 faced the government’s trained trial attorneys with no lawyer at all. Immigration court is an adversarial system where the government side is always represented. Walking into it alone, on a docket that is moving faster than at any point in a decade, is a risk most families cannot afford to take.
What the Backlog Means for Cases Outside the Courtroom
The court backlog is only the most visible queue. Applications pending with the agencies, green cards, waivers, work permits, citizenship, sit in their own lines, and when an agency file stalls for years with no decision, federal law provides a remedy the statistics never show: a mandamus action asking a federal judge to order the government to decide. If your case has been pending beyond all reason, our Seattle mandamus practice exists for exactly that, and our guide on what to do when a case has been pending for years maps the decision.
About This Tracker
The Ankeny Law Immigration Court Backlog Tracker reports figures exactly as published in the EOIR Adjudication Statistics, currently the release generated July 24, 2026, with representation data generated November 18, 2025. Every number above is the government’s own. We update this page as EOIR publishes new quarterly data, so the figures here reflect the most recent official release at the time of the last update.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many cases are pending in U.S. immigration courts in 2026?
As of the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, EOIR reports 3,469,569 pending cases in the U.S. immigration courts.
Is the immigration court backlog going up or down?
Down, for now. The backlog peaked at 3,924,993 in FY2024 and has fallen in each release since, to 3,469,569 by the third quarter of FY2026, because completions are running well ahead of new case filings.
What percentage of people in immigration court have a lawyer?
Per EOIR’s current data on completed FY2025 cases, 55 percent were represented, meaning nearly half of respondents whose cases were completed had no attorney. Representation was higher in asylum cases, at 77 percent.
Does a smaller backlog mean my case will be decided faster?
Very possibly, and that is exactly why preparation matters more now, not less. Faster dockets compress the time available to gather evidence, secure witnesses, and build relief applications. The right response to a fast docket is early counsel.
What can I do if my case has been pending for years?
For agency applications stuck without a decision, a writ of mandamus can ask a federal court to compel the government to act. Whether it fits your situation depends on the facts, which is a conversation we have at consultation.
Talk to an Attorney Who Has Seen Both Sides
Your first step is a consultation where we hear the facts, identify the legal issues, and give you an honest assessment of your options. Call our Seattle office at (206) 686-1589 or our Vancouver office at (604) 314-1848, or schedule a consultation online.