Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact July 28, 2023
on the Immigration Courts Backlog
Holly Straut-Eppsteiner
Immigration courts operate within the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for
Analyst in Immigration
Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR’s immigration judges (IJs) adjudicate removal
Policy
proceedings, during which they determine whether foreign nationals charged with
immigration violations are removable from the United States and/or are eligible for
relief or protection from removal (e.g., asylum) for which they have applied. The
number of removal cases pending in immigration courts has grown substantially in recent years and has drawn
attention to IJ hiring as one possible path to reducing the backlog. EOIR had 649 IJs on staff at the end of FY2023
Q2. In FY2022 (the most recent full year of data), EOIR hired 104 IJs, its largest annual number of hires on
record. Although EOIR has increased its IJ corps in recent years, the backlog has continued to grow, increasing by
403% from FY2013 to FY2022, and reaching nearly 2 million cases at the end of the second quarter of FY2023,
an all-time high.
This report provides an overview of trends in EOIR’s caseloads, case completions, and IJ hiring and staffing
levels. It also provides CRS projections of the impact of different IJ hiring scenarios on the pending-cases backlog
over the next 10 fiscal years. Based on the assumptions and averages used in the analysis, it would take 300 or
more additional IJs to begin to reduce the backlog. Hiring 300 IJs, however, likely would not fully clear the
backlog in the observed 10-year timeframe (i.e., through FY2033). An additional 700 IJs would be needed to fully
clear the backlog by FY2032.
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Contents
Removal Proceedings Overview ..................................................................................................... 1
Caseload Trends .............................................................................................................................. 2
Rate of Case Completions ............................................................................................................... 3
IJ Staffing Levels and Hiring Efforts .............................................................................................. 4
Projected Impact of Immigration Judge Hiring on Pending Cases Backlog ................................... 5
Figures
Figure 1. Initial Cases Received, Pending (Backlog), and Completed, FY2003-FY2023
Q2 ................................................................................................................................................. 3
Figure 2. Case Completions as a Percentage of Case Receipts, FY2003-FY2022 .......................... 4
Figure 3. Immigration Judges Hired, Departed, and On Board, FY2013-FY2023 Q2 ................... 5
Figure 4. Projected Impact of Immigration Judge Hiring on Pending Cases Backlog,
FY2023-FY2033 .......................................................................................................................... 9
Tables
Table 1. Projected Impact of Immigration Judge Hiring on Pending Cases Backlog ..................... 7
Contacts
Author Information .......................................................................................................................... 9
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Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
Removal Proceedings Overview
Immigration court proceedings are adjudicated by the Executive Office for Immigration Review
(EOIR), an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), under authority delegated by the
Attorney General.1 The most common immigration court proceedings are removal proceedings
under Section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), also known as formal removal
proceedings.2 Removal proceedings commence when component agencies within the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS), the executive department responsible for enforcing immigration
law, charge a foreign national with an immigration violation and file a Notice to Appear (NTA) in
immigration court.3
DHS agencies may charge foreign nationals at the U.S. border or in the interior of the country
with grounds of inadmissibility4 or deportability.5 Three DHS agencies issue NTAs:
• Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which is responsible for border security at
ports of entry (Office of Field Operations) and between ports of entry (U.S.
Border Patrol);
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is responsible for interior
immigration enforcement; and
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which adjudicates
applications for naturalization and immigration benefits (e.g., petitions and
applications for immigrant and nonimmigrant visas).
EOIR’s immigration judges (IJs) adjudicate the removal cases that DHS agencies file with
immigration courts. IJs are attorneys appointed by the Attorney General as administrative judges.6
During removal proceedings, an IJ determines whether a foreign national, referred to as a
respondent, is removable and if the respondent is eligible for protection or relief from removal
(e.g., asylum) for which he or she has applied.7 Either party may appeal an IJ’s decision to
EOIR’s appellate division, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).8
The number of removal cases pending in immigration courts (hereinafter, backlog) has grown
substantially in recent years and has drawn attention to IJ hiring. Although EOIR has steadily
increased its IJ corps every year since FY2015, the backlog has continued to grow. It quadrupled
from FY2013 to FY2022, and reached nearly 2 million cases at the end of the second quarter of
1 For more information, see CRS Report R47077, U.S. Immigration Courts and the Pending Cases Backlog.
2 8 U.S.C. §1229a. For a list of other types of immigration court hearings, see ibid., Table 1.
3 For more information, see CRS In Focus IF11536, Formal Removal Proceedings: An Introduction; and CRS
Infographic IG10022, Immigration Court Proceedings: Process and Data.
4 INA §212; 8 U.S.C. §1182.
5 INA §237; 8 U.S.C. §1227.
6 IJs are career employees with no fixed terms. Core requirements for IJ applicants include an LL.B., J.D., or LL.M.
degree; an active bar membership; and seven years of post-bar admission legal experience. See DOJ, EOIR, “Make a
Difference: Apply for an Immigration Judge Position,” at https://www.justice.gov/eoir/Adjudicators.
7 For more information about the asylum process in removal proceedings, see CRS Report R47504, Asylum Process in
Immigration Courts and Selected Trends.
8 If the BIA affirms an IJ’s order of removal, the respondent may file a petition for judicial review with a federal circuit
court of appeals. The BIA’s pending caseload has also grown in recent years, more than tripling from the end of
FY2018 (30,854 cases) to the end of the first quarter of FY2023 (96,608 cases). See DOJ, EOIR, “Case Appeals Filed,
Completed, and Pending,” Adjudication Statistics, January 16, 2023.
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FY2023, an all-time high.9 EOIR has stated that the backlog is “the largest single issue facing the
immigration courts today.”10 Contributing factors in recent years include high levels of migration
to the U.S.-Mexico border, the number of IJs on staff to adjudicate cases relative to the number of
removal cases filed by DHS, and hearing postponements during the COVID-19 pandemic.11
Interested parties—lawmakers, the IJ union, immigration attorneys, and other observers—have
long suggested reforms to the immigration courts, including those that propose to address its case
backlog.12 For example, DOJ leadership during the Trump Administration and some lawmakers in
the 118th Congress have supported holding IJs to certain case-completion performance metrics.13
Other lawmakers, EOIR, and other observers have proposed increasing EOIR’s adjudicatory
capacity by expanding courtroom space, staff, and the number of IJs available to adjudicate cases.
This report provides an overview of trends in EOIR’s caseloads, case completions, and IJ hiring
and staffing levels. It also provides CRS projections of the impact of different IJ hiring scenarios
(0 to 1,000 new IJs, in increments of 100) on the pending cases backlog over the next 10 fiscal
years.
Caseload Trends
IJs have jurisdiction over removal cases once a DHS agency files an NTA in immigration court.
From FY2006 to FY2018, EOIR’s annual case receipts fluctuated but were relatively consistent
(averaging 238,363 a year) until they increased sharply in FY2019 (547,308) (Figure 1). Case
receipts then declined in FY2020 and FY2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. In FY2022, case
receipts increased to the highest level in the agency’s history (707,504) amid record-high levels of
migrant encounters at the Southwest border.14 In its FY2024 budget request, EOIR stated that the
number of cases received in the first quarter of FY2023 (184,724) puts the agency “on track to
match or exceed FY2022 filing heights.”15 More recently, EOIR Director David Neal stated that
immigration courts are on track to receive 1 million new cases in FY2023.16 As of the end of the
first half of FY2023, EOIR has received 428,702 cases (Figure 1).
Cases pending in immigration courts have increased each year since FY2006 (when they
numbered 168,827). The growth in pending cases has been especially pronounced since FY2016.
The backlog exceeded 1 million cases for the first time in FY2019 and reached 1.98 million cases
at the end of the second quarter (Q2) of FY2023.17
9 See Figure 1 for sources.
10 DOJ, EOIR, FY2024 Performance Budget, Congressional Budget Submission, March 2023, p. 21.
11 For more information, see CRS Report R47077, U.S. Immigration Courts and the Pending Cases Backlog.
12 For further discussion, see ibid.
13 For example, the House Appropriations Subcommittee Markup of the FY2024 Commerce, Justice, Science, and
Related Agencies appropriations bill would require EOIR to “implement case performance metrics that are linked to
performance evaluations for individual immigration judges.” The measure proposed by House Republicans would
reduce EOIR’s FY2024 appropriations from the FY2023 level. EOIR had implemented IJ performance metrics under
the Trump Administration, which were subsequently rescinded under the Biden Administration—see the “IJ Quotas
and Performance Measures” section in CRS Report R47077, U.S. Immigration Courts and the Pending Cases Backlog.
14 For more information, see CRS Report R47343, U.S. Border Patrol Apprehensions and Title 42 Expulsions at the
Southwest Border: Fact Sheet.
15 DOJ, EOIR, FY2024 Performance Budget, Congressional Budget Submission, March 2023, p. 3.
16 Remarks by David Neal, Director, EOIR, “Straining under the Backlog: Fixing a U.S. Immigration Court System in
Crisis,” webinar, Migration Policy Institute, July 20, 2024.
17 DOJ, EOIR, “Pending Cases, New Cases, and Total Completions,” Adjudication Statistics, April 21, 2023
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Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
Figure 1. Initial Cases Received, Pending (Backlog), and Completed,
FY2003-FY2023 Q2
Source: Created by CRS, based on the fol owing sources. Cases received and completed: DOJ, EOIR, “New
Cases and Total Completions – Historical,” Adjudication Statistics, April 21, 2023; cases pending (FY2006-
FY2007): TRAC, “Immigration Court Backlog Tool,” https://trac.syr.edu/phptools/immigration/court_backlog/;
cases pending (FY2008-FY2023): DOJ, EOIR, “Pending Cases, New Cases, and Total Completions,” Adjudication
Statistics, April 21, 2023.
Notes: FY2023 represents six months, through Q2 only, and is shown in the figure with dashed lines.
Rate of Case Completions
The proportion of initial case completions18 by immigration judges can be measured as a
completion rate by dividing those totals among all cases EOIR received in a given year. Since
FY2007, EOIR’s rate of case completions has generally declined (Figure 2), which suggests that
EOIR has been increasingly unable to adjudicate the volume of cases it receives from DHS. Some
observers attribute this decline to an increased case volume in recent years in addition to other
factors, including COVID-19-related court closures, newly hired judges completing fewer cases
as they learn the job, an inadequate volume of support staff relative to the number of IJs, and
changes in the circumstances of respondents facing removal (e.g., higher numbers of children,
families, and asylum seekers, whose cases may take longer to adjudicate).19
18 Initial case completions represent an IJ’s first dispositive decision (e.g., removal orders, relief grants, voluntary
departure, or termination). Parties may appeal that decision to the BIA. They may also file a motion to reconsider or
motion to reopen an IJ’s decision.
19 For a more in-depth analysis and discussion of trends in case completions, including completions per IJ, see CRS
Report R47077, U.S. Immigration Courts and the Pending Cases Backlog.
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Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
Figure 2. Case Completions as a Percentage of Case Receipts, FY2003-FY2022
Source: Created by CRS, based on DOJ, EOIR, “New Cases and Total Completions – Historical,” Adjudication
Statistics, April 21, 2023.
Notes: Percentages exceed 100% when the number of case completions is greater than the number of cases received
in a given fiscal year. Cases completed in a given fiscal year may have been filed in previous fiscal years.
IJ Staffing Levels and Hiring Efforts
EOIR and other observers have identified the number of IJs on staff as a critical resource shortage
for immigration courts. During a DOJ-wide hiring freeze from FY2011 through FY2014, the
number of IJs on staff at EOIR decreased from 273 to 249.20 Over this period, pending cases
increased from approximately 298,000 to 430,000, even though the annual number of cases
received did not increase.
More recently, DOJ increased IJ hiring. In FY2022 (the most recent full year of data), EOIR hired
104 IJs, its largest annual number of hires on record. EOIR had 649 IJs on staff at the end of
FY2023 Q2 (Figure 3).
Despite this level of hiring, the ratio of the number of pending cases to IJs has generally
increased. For example, in FY2014 there were 1,728 pending cases for each IJ (430,229 total
pending cases divided by 249 IJs). In FY2023 Q2, there were 2,844 pending cases per IJ (1.98
million pending cases divided by 649 IJs). (Note that the actual number of cases on a given IJ’s
docket varies.)
EOIR has identified challenges with IJ hiring. The hiring process can be time intensive; EOIR has
stated that vetting and hiring IJs has historically taken more than one year.21 Recently, however,
the agency has stated that it has improved its process and reduced its hiring time by
20 There were small numbers of IJ hires in FY2012 (4) and FY2013 (8, see Figure 3). DOJ’s hiring policy at that time
allowed some limited hiring with available resources. See Daniel Wilson, “DOJ To Lift Hiring Freeze After Budget
Boost, Holder Says,” Law 360, February 10, 2014.
21 DOJ, EOIR, FY2024 Performance Budget, Congressional Budget Submission, March 2023, p. 5.
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Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
approximately 50%.22 Nevertheless, new judges require time to learn on the job, which impacts
case completion rates.23
Attrition also impacts the IJ corps. In recent years, even as EOIR hired more IJs, the attrition rate
doubled due to higher numbers of retirements and separations (from 12 IJs annually to an average
of 26 since FY2017).24
Figure 3. Immigration Judges Hired, Departed, and On Board, FY2013-FY2023 Q2
Source: Created by CRS, based on DOJ, EOIR, “Immigration Judge (IJ) Hiring,” Adjudication Statistics, April
2023.
Notes: Departures have been imputed by CRS (calculated as the sum of the number of IJs on board at the end
of the previous fiscal year and hires in the given fiscal year minus the IJs on board at the end of the given fiscal
year). FY2023 represents a partial year through Q2 only. EOIR hired no immigration judges in FY2014.
For FY2024, EOIR requested $367 million in funding for staff to reduce the backlog; specifically,
for 150 new IJ teams (includes 750 attorneys and associated support staff), as well as attorney
advisors, legal and professional administrative staff, and related space and equipment.25
Projected Impact of Immigration Judge Hiring on
Pending Cases Backlog
Table 1 and Figure 4 show one potential approach to estimating the annual size of the pending
cases backlog under different IJ hiring scenarios for 0-1,000 new IJs in increments of 100 for
each fiscal year starting with FY2023 Q2 and continuing through FY2033.
22 Ibid., p. 19.
23 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Immigration Courts: Actions Needed to Reduce Case Backlog and
Address Long-Standing Management and Operational Challenges, GAO-17-438, p. 24.
24 Ibid., p. 5. For more information, see CRS Report R47077, U.S. Immigration Courts and the Pending Cases Backlog,
“IJ Staffing and Productivity.”
25 DOJ, EOIR, FY2024 Performance Budget, Congressional Budget Submission, March 2023, p. 21. This funding
would cover personnel costs (i.e., salaries), which account for 52% of the total; court costs (e.g., space buildout for IT
teams, security services, furniture, technology costs), accounting for 39% of the total; and adjudicatory costs (e.g.,
interpretation and transcription), representing 9% of the total.
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Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
The projections rely on average annual case receipts and average annual case completions per IJ
from five recent full fiscal years: FY2017, FY2018, FY2019, FY2020, and FY2022, using data
from EOIR’s adjudication statistics. CRS excluded FY2021, an anomalous year on these
measures because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That year, average case completions per IJ were
much lower than in other recent years.26
To project the resulting backlog size under different hiring scenarios, CRS multiplied the number
of judges by average cases completed annually per IJ to estimate total annual case completions.27
CRS then subtracted this estimate from average annual new cases to arrive at the net estimated
change in the backlog through FY2033.
Based on the assumptions and averages used in the analysis, hiring 300 or more additional IJs
(bringing the total number of IJs to 949) would begin to reduce the backlog—meaning that at this
level, the IJ corps would be expected to complete more cases than EOIR receives in a given fiscal
year. Hiring 300 IJs, however, likely would not fully clear the backlog in the observed 10-year
timeframe (i.e., by FY2033).28 Under these projections, an additional 700 IJs (1,349 total) would
be the minimum number needed to fully clear the backlog by FY2032, holding all other factors
constant.
The assumptions used to develop these projections, which are based on the most recent full years
of data, may not hold true in future years and are therefore subject to error. For example, as
mentioned previously, EOIR has indicated that FY2024 case receipts are on track to reach 1
million, far higher than the five-year average (447,187). If such case receipt trends continue, these
projections may underestimate substantially the number of IJs needed to reduce the backlog.29
Future case receipts may vary significantly as the result of shifts in immigration and enforcement
trends (e.g., the number and characteristics of migrant arrivals at the Southwest border and/or the
enforcement priorities of a particular administration). Therefore, CRS cannot predict future
outcomes with certainty. EOIR has noted that the number of removal cases it receives are largely
outside its control30 and that IJ staffing alone may not be sufficient to address the backlog in the
short term.31
CRS’s estimate of case completions per IJ—the number of annual case completions divided by
the number of IJs on staff—may also be imprecise because it can account only for the number of
IJs on staff at the end of the fiscal year. In addition, there is variation across cases, including the
length of time needed to adjudicate them. These projections also do not account for IJ attrition.
Other approaches may yield different results.
26 CRS calculated case completions per IJ as the total number of cases received in a fiscal year divided by the number
of IJs on staff at the end of that fiscal year. Average case completions per IJ were 482 in FY2017, 494 in FY2018, 627
in FY2019, 449 in FY2020, 207 in FY2021, and 496 in FY2022. For an analysis of trends in case completions per IJ
through FY2021, see CRS Report R47077, U.S. Immigration Courts and the Pending Cases Backlog, Figure 7.
27 While CRS has held constant the average number of case receipts per year for the purposes of this analysis,
realistically they are likely to vary from year to year.
28 Under these estimates, with an additional 300 IJs the backlog would be eliminated in FY2078.
29 For example, using this methodology, if the average number of annual new cases increased to 700,000, it would take
800 new IJs to begin to reduce the backlog, and the backlog would not reach zero under any of the hiring scenarios
displayed.
30 For example, substantial increases in the arrivals of asylum seekers and associated DHS case filing. See DOJ, EOIR,
FY2024 Performance Budget, Congressional Budget Submission, March 2023, p. 6.
31 Ibid., p. 3. For example, EOIR has noted that in addition to hiring IJs, the agency requires additional legal staff and
improvements in technological capabilities.
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Table 1. Projected Impact of Immigration Judge Hiring on Pending Cases Backlog
(11 scenarios based on hiring 0 through 1,000 additional IJs, in increments of 100)
Annual backlog change, based on number of additional judges
Number of additional judges in scenario
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1,000
Total number of judges in scenario
649
749
849
949
1,049
1,149
1,249
1,349
1,449
1,549
1,649
Assuming each judge completes an average of 509.6 cases annually
Estimated number of cases completed annually by
total number of judges (total number of judges x
330,747
381,710
432,672
483,635
534,597
585,560
636,522
687,485
738,447
789,410
840,373
509.5 cases)
Assuming the average number of new cases received by EOIR each year is 447,187
Estimated annual changes to backlog
(447,009 cases - estimated number of cases
116,440
65,478
14,515
-36,447
-87,410
-138,373
-189,335
-240,298
-291,260
-342,223
-393,185
completed)
Expected total backlog (starting backlog + estimated annual change to backlog)
Starting backlog (actual size of backlog as of
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
FY2023 Q2)
Projected size of backlog in FY2024
2,095,753
2,044,791
1,993,828
1,942,866
1,891,903
1,840,940
1,789,978
1,739,015
1,688,053
1,637,090
1,586,128
Projected size of backlog in FY2025
2,212,193
2,110,268
2,008,343
1,906,418
1,804,493
1,702,568
1,600,643
1,498,718
1,396,792
1,294,867
1,192,942
Projected size of backlog in FY2026
2,328,634
2,175,746
2,022,858
1,869,971
1,717,083
1,564,195
1,411,308
1,258,420
1,105,532
952,645
799,757
Projected size of backlog in FY2027
2,445,074
2,241,224
2,037,373
1,833,523
1,629,673
1,425,823
1,221,972
1,018,122
814,272
610,422
406,571
Projected size of backlog in FY2028
2,561,514
2,306,701
2,051,888
1,797,076
1,542,263
1,287,450
1,032,637
777,824
523,012
268,199
13,386
Projected size of backlog in FY2029
2,677,954
2,372,179
2,066,404
1,760,628
1,454,853
1,149,077
843,302
537,527
231,751
0
0
Projected size of backlog in FY2030
2,794,394
2,437,656
2,080,919
1,724,181
1,367,443
1,010,705
653,967
297,229
0
0
0
Projected size of backlog in FY2031
2,910,835
2,503,134
2,095,434
1,687,733
1,280,033
872,332
464,632
56,931
0
0
0
Projected size of backlog in FY2032
3,027,275
2,568,612
2,109,949
1,651,286
1,192,623
733,960
275,297
0
0
0
0
Projected size of backlog in FY2033
3,143,715
2,634,089
2,124,464
1,614,838
1,105,213
595,587
85,962
0
0
0
0
Sources: Created by CRS, based on DOJ, EOIR, “Pending Cases, New Cases, and Total Completions,” Adjudication Statistics, April 21, 2023, and “Immigration Judge (IJ)
Hiring,” Adjudication Statistics, April 2023.
CRS-7
link to page 8
Notes: Averages exclude FY2021 due to abnormally low case completions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. IJ estimates are based on the number of IJs on staff in the
second quarter of FY2023 (Figure 3) and do not account for expected attrition over time. Backlog estimates under different IJ hiring scenarios are based on recent data.
Backlog estimates are rounded to the nearest whole number.
CRS-8
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Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
Figure 4. Projected Impact of Immigration Judge Hiring on
Pending Cases Backlog, FY2023-FY2033
(this figure is interactive in the HTML version of the report)
Source: Created by CRS, based on DOJ, EOIR, “Pending Cases, New Cases, and Total Completions,”
Adjudication Statistics, April 21, 2023, and “Immigration Judge (IJ) Hiring,” Adjudication Statistics, April 2023.
Notes: Averages exclude FY2021 due to abnormally low case completions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
IJ estimates are based on the number of IJs on staff in the second quarter of FY2023 (Figure 3) and do not
account for expected attrition over time. Backlog estimates under different IJ hiring scenarios are based on
recent data. Backlog estimates are rounded to the nearest whole number.
Author Information
Holly Straut-Eppsteiner
Analyst in Immigration Policy
Acknowledgments
Amber Hope Wilhelm, CRS Visual Information Specialist, created all figures for this report, including the
interactive graphic version of Figure 4 available in the HTML version of the report.
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Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
Disclaimer
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Congressional Research Service
R47637 · VERSION 1 · NEW
10
on the Immigration Courts Backlog
Holly Straut-Eppsteiner
Immigration courts operate within the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for
Analyst in Immigration
Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR’s immigration judges (IJs) adjudicate removal
Policy
proceedings, during which they determine whether foreign nationals charged with
immigration violations are removable from the United States and/or are eligible for
relief or protection from removal (e.g., asylum) for which they have applied. The
number of removal cases pending in immigration courts has grown substantially in recent years and has drawn
attention to IJ hiring as one possible path to reducing the backlog. EOIR had 649 IJs on staff at the end of FY2023
Q2. In FY2022 (the most recent full year of data), EOIR hired 104 IJs, its largest annual number of hires on
record. Although EOIR has increased its IJ corps in recent years, the backlog has continued to grow, increasing by
403% from FY2013 to FY2022, and reaching nearly 2 million cases at the end of the second quarter of FY2023,
an all-time high.
This report provides an overview of trends in EOIR’s caseloads, case completions, and IJ hiring and staffing
levels. It also provides CRS projections of the impact of different IJ hiring scenarios on the pending-cases backlog
over the next 10 fiscal years. Based on the assumptions and averages used in the analysis, it would take 300 or
more additional IJs to begin to reduce the backlog. Hiring 300 IJs, however, likely would not fully clear the
backlog in the observed 10-year timeframe (i.e., through FY2033). An additional 700 IJs would be needed to fully
clear the backlog by FY2032.
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Contents
Removal Proceedings Overview ..................................................................................................... 1
Caseload Trends .............................................................................................................................. 2
Rate of Case Completions ............................................................................................................... 3
IJ Staffing Levels and Hiring Efforts .............................................................................................. 4
Projected Impact of Immigration Judge Hiring on Pending Cases Backlog ................................... 5
Figures
Figure 1. Initial Cases Received, Pending (Backlog), and Completed, FY2003-FY2023
Q2 ................................................................................................................................................. 3
Figure 2. Case Completions as a Percentage of Case Receipts, FY2003-FY2022 .......................... 4
Figure 3. Immigration Judges Hired, Departed, and On Board, FY2013-FY2023 Q2 ................... 5
Figure 4. Projected Impact of Immigration Judge Hiring on Pending Cases Backlog,
FY2023-FY2033 .......................................................................................................................... 9
Tables
Table 1. Projected Impact of Immigration Judge Hiring on Pending Cases Backlog ..................... 7
Contacts
Author Information .......................................................................................................................... 9
Congressional Research Service
Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
Removal Proceedings Overview
Immigration court proceedings are adjudicated by the Executive Office for Immigration Review
(EOIR), an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), under authority delegated by the
Attorney General.1 The most common immigration court proceedings are removal proceedings
under Section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), also known as formal removal
proceedings.2 Removal proceedings commence when component agencies within the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS), the executive department responsible for enforcing immigration
law, charge a foreign national with an immigration violation and file a Notice to Appear (NTA) in
immigration court.3
DHS agencies may charge foreign nationals at the U.S. border or in the interior of the country
with grounds of inadmissibility4 or deportability.5 Three DHS agencies issue NTAs:
• Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which is responsible for border security at
ports of entry (Office of Field Operations) and between ports of entry (U.S.
Border Patrol);
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is responsible for interior
immigration enforcement; and
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which adjudicates
applications for naturalization and immigration benefits (e.g., petitions and
applications for immigrant and nonimmigrant visas).
EOIR’s immigration judges (IJs) adjudicate the removal cases that DHS agencies file with
immigration courts. IJs are attorneys appointed by the Attorney General as administrative judges.6
During removal proceedings, an IJ determines whether a foreign national, referred to as a
respondent, is removable and if the respondent is eligible for protection or relief from removal
(e.g., asylum) for which he or she has applied.7 Either party may appeal an IJ’s decision to
EOIR’s appellate division, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).8
The number of removal cases pending in immigration courts (hereinafter, backlog) has grown
substantially in recent years and has drawn attention to IJ hiring. Although EOIR has steadily
increased its IJ corps every year since FY2015, the backlog has continued to grow. It quadrupled
from FY2013 to FY2022, and reached nearly 2 million cases at the end of the second quarter of
1 For more information, see CRS Report R47077, U.S. Immigration Courts and the Pending Cases Backlog.
2 8 U.S.C. §1229a. For a list of other types of immigration court hearings, see ibid., Table 1.
3 For more information, see CRS In Focus IF11536, Formal Removal Proceedings: An Introduction; and CRS
Infographic IG10022, Immigration Court Proceedings: Process and Data.
4 INA §212; 8 U.S.C. §1182.
5 INA §237; 8 U.S.C. §1227.
6 IJs are career employees with no fixed terms. Core requirements for IJ applicants include an LL.B., J.D., or LL.M.
degree; an active bar membership; and seven years of post-bar admission legal experience. See DOJ, EOIR, “Make a
Difference: Apply for an Immigration Judge Position,” at https://www.justice.gov/eoir/Adjudicators.
7 For more information about the asylum process in removal proceedings, see CRS Report R47504, Asylum Process in
Immigration Courts and Selected Trends.
8 If the BIA affirms an IJ’s order of removal, the respondent may file a petition for judicial review with a federal circuit
court of appeals. The BIA’s pending caseload has also grown in recent years, more than tripling from the end of
FY2018 (30,854 cases) to the end of the first quarter of FY2023 (96,608 cases). See DOJ, EOIR, “Case Appeals Filed,
Completed, and Pending,” Adjudication Statistics, January 16, 2023.
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FY2023, an all-time high.9 EOIR has stated that the backlog is “the largest single issue facing the
immigration courts today.”10 Contributing factors in recent years include high levels of migration
to the U.S.-Mexico border, the number of IJs on staff to adjudicate cases relative to the number of
removal cases filed by DHS, and hearing postponements during the COVID-19 pandemic.11
Interested parties—lawmakers, the IJ union, immigration attorneys, and other observers—have
long suggested reforms to the immigration courts, including those that propose to address its case
backlog.12 For example, DOJ leadership during the Trump Administration and some lawmakers in
the 118th Congress have supported holding IJs to certain case-completion performance metrics.13
Other lawmakers, EOIR, and other observers have proposed increasing EOIR’s adjudicatory
capacity by expanding courtroom space, staff, and the number of IJs available to adjudicate cases.
This report provides an overview of trends in EOIR’s caseloads, case completions, and IJ hiring
and staffing levels. It also provides CRS projections of the impact of different IJ hiring scenarios
(0 to 1,000 new IJs, in increments of 100) on the pending cases backlog over the next 10 fiscal
years.
Caseload Trends
IJs have jurisdiction over removal cases once a DHS agency files an NTA in immigration court.
From FY2006 to FY2018, EOIR’s annual case receipts fluctuated but were relatively consistent
(averaging 238,363 a year) until they increased sharply in FY2019 (547,308) (Figure 1). Case
receipts then declined in FY2020 and FY2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. In FY2022, case
receipts increased to the highest level in the agency’s history (707,504) amid record-high levels of
migrant encounters at the Southwest border.14 In its FY2024 budget request, EOIR stated that the
number of cases received in the first quarter of FY2023 (184,724) puts the agency “on track to
match or exceed FY2022 filing heights.”15 More recently, EOIR Director David Neal stated that
immigration courts are on track to receive 1 million new cases in FY2023.16 As of the end of the
first half of FY2023, EOIR has received 428,702 cases (Figure 1).
Cases pending in immigration courts have increased each year since FY2006 (when they
numbered 168,827). The growth in pending cases has been especially pronounced since FY2016.
The backlog exceeded 1 million cases for the first time in FY2019 and reached 1.98 million cases
at the end of the second quarter (Q2) of FY2023.17
9 See Figure 1 for sources.
10 DOJ, EOIR, FY2024 Performance Budget, Congressional Budget Submission, March 2023, p. 21.
11 For more information, see CRS Report R47077, U.S. Immigration Courts and the Pending Cases Backlog.
12 For further discussion, see ibid.
13 For example, the House Appropriations Subcommittee Markup of the FY2024 Commerce, Justice, Science, and
Related Agencies appropriations bill would require EOIR to “implement case performance metrics that are linked to
performance evaluations for individual immigration judges.” The measure proposed by House Republicans would
reduce EOIR’s FY2024 appropriations from the FY2023 level. EOIR had implemented IJ performance metrics under
the Trump Administration, which were subsequently rescinded under the Biden Administration—see the “IJ Quotas
and Performance Measures” section in CRS Report R47077, U.S. Immigration Courts and the Pending Cases Backlog.
14 For more information, see CRS Report R47343, U.S. Border Patrol Apprehensions and Title 42 Expulsions at the
Southwest Border: Fact Sheet.
15 DOJ, EOIR, FY2024 Performance Budget, Congressional Budget Submission, March 2023, p. 3.
16 Remarks by David Neal, Director, EOIR, “Straining under the Backlog: Fixing a U.S. Immigration Court System in
Crisis,” webinar, Migration Policy Institute, July 20, 2024.
17 DOJ, EOIR, “Pending Cases, New Cases, and Total Completions,” Adjudication Statistics, April 21, 2023
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Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
Figure 1. Initial Cases Received, Pending (Backlog), and Completed,
FY2003-FY2023 Q2
Source: Created by CRS, based on the fol owing sources. Cases received and completed: DOJ, EOIR, “New
Cases and Total Completions – Historical,” Adjudication Statistics, April 21, 2023; cases pending (FY2006-
FY2007): TRAC, “Immigration Court Backlog Tool,” https://trac.syr.edu/phptools/immigration/court_backlog/;
cases pending (FY2008-FY2023): DOJ, EOIR, “Pending Cases, New Cases, and Total Completions,” Adjudication
Statistics, April 21, 2023.
Notes: FY2023 represents six months, through Q2 only, and is shown in the figure with dashed lines.
Rate of Case Completions
The proportion of initial case completions18 by immigration judges can be measured as a
completion rate by dividing those totals among all cases EOIR received in a given year. Since
FY2007, EOIR’s rate of case completions has generally declined (Figure 2), which suggests that
EOIR has been increasingly unable to adjudicate the volume of cases it receives from DHS. Some
observers attribute this decline to an increased case volume in recent years in addition to other
factors, including COVID-19-related court closures, newly hired judges completing fewer cases
as they learn the job, an inadequate volume of support staff relative to the number of IJs, and
changes in the circumstances of respondents facing removal (e.g., higher numbers of children,
families, and asylum seekers, whose cases may take longer to adjudicate).19
18 Initial case completions represent an IJ’s first dispositive decision (e.g., removal orders, relief grants, voluntary
departure, or termination). Parties may appeal that decision to the BIA. They may also file a motion to reconsider or
motion to reopen an IJ’s decision.
19 For a more in-depth analysis and discussion of trends in case completions, including completions per IJ, see CRS
Report R47077, U.S. Immigration Courts and the Pending Cases Backlog.
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Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
Figure 2. Case Completions as a Percentage of Case Receipts, FY2003-FY2022
Source: Created by CRS, based on DOJ, EOIR, “New Cases and Total Completions – Historical,” Adjudication
Statistics, April 21, 2023.
Notes: Percentages exceed 100% when the number of case completions is greater than the number of cases received
in a given fiscal year. Cases completed in a given fiscal year may have been filed in previous fiscal years.
IJ Staffing Levels and Hiring Efforts
EOIR and other observers have identified the number of IJs on staff as a critical resource shortage
for immigration courts. During a DOJ-wide hiring freeze from FY2011 through FY2014, the
number of IJs on staff at EOIR decreased from 273 to 249.20 Over this period, pending cases
increased from approximately 298,000 to 430,000, even though the annual number of cases
received did not increase.
More recently, DOJ increased IJ hiring. In FY2022 (the most recent full year of data), EOIR hired
104 IJs, its largest annual number of hires on record. EOIR had 649 IJs on staff at the end of
FY2023 Q2 (Figure 3).
Despite this level of hiring, the ratio of the number of pending cases to IJs has generally
increased. For example, in FY2014 there were 1,728 pending cases for each IJ (430,229 total
pending cases divided by 249 IJs). In FY2023 Q2, there were 2,844 pending cases per IJ (1.98
million pending cases divided by 649 IJs). (Note that the actual number of cases on a given IJ’s
docket varies.)
EOIR has identified challenges with IJ hiring. The hiring process can be time intensive; EOIR has
stated that vetting and hiring IJs has historically taken more than one year.21 Recently, however,
the agency has stated that it has improved its process and reduced its hiring time by
20 There were small numbers of IJ hires in FY2012 (4) and FY2013 (8, see Figure 3). DOJ’s hiring policy at that time
allowed some limited hiring with available resources. See Daniel Wilson, “DOJ To Lift Hiring Freeze After Budget
Boost, Holder Says,” Law 360, February 10, 2014.
21 DOJ, EOIR, FY2024 Performance Budget, Congressional Budget Submission, March 2023, p. 5.
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Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
approximately 50%.22 Nevertheless, new judges require time to learn on the job, which impacts
case completion rates.23
Attrition also impacts the IJ corps. In recent years, even as EOIR hired more IJs, the attrition rate
doubled due to higher numbers of retirements and separations (from 12 IJs annually to an average
of 26 since FY2017).24
Figure 3. Immigration Judges Hired, Departed, and On Board, FY2013-FY2023 Q2
Source: Created by CRS, based on DOJ, EOIR, “Immigration Judge (IJ) Hiring,” Adjudication Statistics, April
2023.
Notes: Departures have been imputed by CRS (calculated as the sum of the number of IJs on board at the end
of the previous fiscal year and hires in the given fiscal year minus the IJs on board at the end of the given fiscal
year). FY2023 represents a partial year through Q2 only. EOIR hired no immigration judges in FY2014.
For FY2024, EOIR requested $367 million in funding for staff to reduce the backlog; specifically,
for 150 new IJ teams (includes 750 attorneys and associated support staff), as well as attorney
advisors, legal and professional administrative staff, and related space and equipment.25
Projected Impact of Immigration Judge Hiring on
Pending Cases Backlog
Table 1 and Figure 4 show one potential approach to estimating the annual size of the pending
cases backlog under different IJ hiring scenarios for 0-1,000 new IJs in increments of 100 for
each fiscal year starting with FY2023 Q2 and continuing through FY2033.
22 Ibid., p. 19.
23 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Immigration Courts: Actions Needed to Reduce Case Backlog and
Address Long-Standing Management and Operational Challenges, GAO-17-438, p. 24.
24 Ibid., p. 5. For more information, see CRS Report R47077, U.S. Immigration Courts and the Pending Cases Backlog,
“IJ Staffing and Productivity.”
25 DOJ, EOIR, FY2024 Performance Budget, Congressional Budget Submission, March 2023, p. 21. This funding
would cover personnel costs (i.e., salaries), which account for 52% of the total; court costs (e.g., space buildout for IT
teams, security services, furniture, technology costs), accounting for 39% of the total; and adjudicatory costs (e.g.,
interpretation and transcription), representing 9% of the total.
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Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
The projections rely on average annual case receipts and average annual case completions per IJ
from five recent full fiscal years: FY2017, FY2018, FY2019, FY2020, and FY2022, using data
from EOIR’s adjudication statistics. CRS excluded FY2021, an anomalous year on these
measures because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That year, average case completions per IJ were
much lower than in other recent years.26
To project the resulting backlog size under different hiring scenarios, CRS multiplied the number
of judges by average cases completed annually per IJ to estimate total annual case completions.27
CRS then subtracted this estimate from average annual new cases to arrive at the net estimated
change in the backlog through FY2033.
Based on the assumptions and averages used in the analysis, hiring 300 or more additional IJs
(bringing the total number of IJs to 949) would begin to reduce the backlog—meaning that at this
level, the IJ corps would be expected to complete more cases than EOIR receives in a given fiscal
year. Hiring 300 IJs, however, likely would not fully clear the backlog in the observed 10-year
timeframe (i.e., by FY2033).28 Under these projections, an additional 700 IJs (1,349 total) would
be the minimum number needed to fully clear the backlog by FY2032, holding all other factors
constant.
The assumptions used to develop these projections, which are based on the most recent full years
of data, may not hold true in future years and are therefore subject to error. For example, as
mentioned previously, EOIR has indicated that FY2024 case receipts are on track to reach 1
million, far higher than the five-year average (447,187). If such case receipt trends continue, these
projections may underestimate substantially the number of IJs needed to reduce the backlog.29
Future case receipts may vary significantly as the result of shifts in immigration and enforcement
trends (e.g., the number and characteristics of migrant arrivals at the Southwest border and/or the
enforcement priorities of a particular administration). Therefore, CRS cannot predict future
outcomes with certainty. EOIR has noted that the number of removal cases it receives are largely
outside its control30 and that IJ staffing alone may not be sufficient to address the backlog in the
short term.31
CRS’s estimate of case completions per IJ—the number of annual case completions divided by
the number of IJs on staff—may also be imprecise because it can account only for the number of
IJs on staff at the end of the fiscal year. In addition, there is variation across cases, including the
length of time needed to adjudicate them. These projections also do not account for IJ attrition.
Other approaches may yield different results.
26 CRS calculated case completions per IJ as the total number of cases received in a fiscal year divided by the number
of IJs on staff at the end of that fiscal year. Average case completions per IJ were 482 in FY2017, 494 in FY2018, 627
in FY2019, 449 in FY2020, 207 in FY2021, and 496 in FY2022. For an analysis of trends in case completions per IJ
through FY2021, see CRS Report R47077, U.S. Immigration Courts and the Pending Cases Backlog, Figure 7.
27 While CRS has held constant the average number of case receipts per year for the purposes of this analysis,
realistically they are likely to vary from year to year.
28 Under these estimates, with an additional 300 IJs the backlog would be eliminated in FY2078.
29 For example, using this methodology, if the average number of annual new cases increased to 700,000, it would take
800 new IJs to begin to reduce the backlog, and the backlog would not reach zero under any of the hiring scenarios
displayed.
30 For example, substantial increases in the arrivals of asylum seekers and associated DHS case filing. See DOJ, EOIR,
FY2024 Performance Budget, Congressional Budget Submission, March 2023, p. 6.
31 Ibid., p. 3. For example, EOIR has noted that in addition to hiring IJs, the agency requires additional legal staff and
improvements in technological capabilities.
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Table 1. Projected Impact of Immigration Judge Hiring on Pending Cases Backlog
(11 scenarios based on hiring 0 through 1,000 additional IJs, in increments of 100)
Annual backlog change, based on number of additional judges
Number of additional judges in scenario
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1,000
Total number of judges in scenario
649
749
849
949
1,049
1,149
1,249
1,349
1,449
1,549
1,649
Assuming each judge completes an average of 509.6 cases annually
Estimated number of cases completed annually by
total number of judges (total number of judges x
330,747
381,710
432,672
483,635
534,597
585,560
636,522
687,485
738,447
789,410
840,373
509.5 cases)
Assuming the average number of new cases received by EOIR each year is 447,187
Estimated annual changes to backlog
(447,009 cases - estimated number of cases
116,440
65,478
14,515
-36,447
-87,410
-138,373
-189,335
-240,298
-291,260
-342,223
-393,185
completed)
Expected total backlog (starting backlog + estimated annual change to backlog)
Starting backlog (actual size of backlog as of
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
1,979,313
FY2023 Q2)
Projected size of backlog in FY2024
2,095,753
2,044,791
1,993,828
1,942,866
1,891,903
1,840,940
1,789,978
1,739,015
1,688,053
1,637,090
1,586,128
Projected size of backlog in FY2025
2,212,193
2,110,268
2,008,343
1,906,418
1,804,493
1,702,568
1,600,643
1,498,718
1,396,792
1,294,867
1,192,942
Projected size of backlog in FY2026
2,328,634
2,175,746
2,022,858
1,869,971
1,717,083
1,564,195
1,411,308
1,258,420
1,105,532
952,645
799,757
Projected size of backlog in FY2027
2,445,074
2,241,224
2,037,373
1,833,523
1,629,673
1,425,823
1,221,972
1,018,122
814,272
610,422
406,571
Projected size of backlog in FY2028
2,561,514
2,306,701
2,051,888
1,797,076
1,542,263
1,287,450
1,032,637
777,824
523,012
268,199
13,386
Projected size of backlog in FY2029
2,677,954
2,372,179
2,066,404
1,760,628
1,454,853
1,149,077
843,302
537,527
231,751
0
0
Projected size of backlog in FY2030
2,794,394
2,437,656
2,080,919
1,724,181
1,367,443
1,010,705
653,967
297,229
0
0
0
Projected size of backlog in FY2031
2,910,835
2,503,134
2,095,434
1,687,733
1,280,033
872,332
464,632
56,931
0
0
0
Projected size of backlog in FY2032
3,027,275
2,568,612
2,109,949
1,651,286
1,192,623
733,960
275,297
0
0
0
0
Projected size of backlog in FY2033
3,143,715
2,634,089
2,124,464
1,614,838
1,105,213
595,587
85,962
0
0
0
0
Sources: Created by CRS, based on DOJ, EOIR, “Pending Cases, New Cases, and Total Completions,” Adjudication Statistics, April 21, 2023, and “Immigration Judge (IJ)
Hiring,” Adjudication Statistics, April 2023.
CRS-7
link to page 8
Notes: Averages exclude FY2021 due to abnormally low case completions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. IJ estimates are based on the number of IJs on staff in the
second quarter of FY2023 (Figure 3) and do not account for expected attrition over time. Backlog estimates under different IJ hiring scenarios are based on recent data.
Backlog estimates are rounded to the nearest whole number.
CRS-8
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Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
Figure 4. Projected Impact of Immigration Judge Hiring on
Pending Cases Backlog, FY2023-FY2033
(this figure is interactive in the HTML version of the report)
Source: Created by CRS, based on DOJ, EOIR, “Pending Cases, New Cases, and Total Completions,”
Adjudication Statistics, April 21, 2023, and “Immigration Judge (IJ) Hiring,” Adjudication Statistics, April 2023.
Notes: Averages exclude FY2021 due to abnormally low case completions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
IJ estimates are based on the number of IJs on staff in the second quarter of FY2023 (Figure 3) and do not
account for expected attrition over time. Backlog estimates under different IJ hiring scenarios are based on
recent data. Backlog estimates are rounded to the nearest whole number.
Author Information
Holly Straut-Eppsteiner
Analyst in Immigration Policy
Acknowledgments
Amber Hope Wilhelm, CRS Visual Information Specialist, created all figures for this report, including the
interactive graphic version of Figure 4 available in the HTML version of the report.
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Immigration Judge Hiring and Projected Impact on the Immigration Courts Backlog
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan
shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and
under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other
than public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in
connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not
subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in
its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or
material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you wish to
copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.
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