How have asylum and immigration court backlogs changed during Joe Biden's presidency?
Executive summary
Asylum and immigration court backlogs ballooned during President Joe Biden’s tenure: immigration court pending cases rose from roughly 1.3 million at the start of his term to roughly 3.6–3.8 million by the end of FY2024, while USCIS asylum and broader application backlogs also climbed into the millions [1] [2] [3]. The growth reflected surges in arrivals, pandemic-era disruptions, agency resource constraints and policy choices—while the administration and outside analysts point to different proximate causes and remedies [4] [1] [5].
1. The scale of the increase: court dockets and USCIS queues
When Biden took office the EOIR docket was just under 1.3 million pending cases; by mid‑2022 it had risen above 1.9 million and continued climbing to roughly 3.6–3.8 million by the end of FY2024, making the immigration court backlog the largest on record [1] [2] [3]. On the USCIS side, asylum and other application inventories expanded as well: Migration Policy reported 1.1 million asylum cases at USCIS and other reporting put the agency’s overall pending inventory in the millions—9.2 million total pending applications with roughly 1.3 million asylum cases at one point—while advocacy and watchdog tallies show affirmative asylum queues doubling from ~336,000 at FY2020 to hundreds of thousands under Biden [5] [2] [6].
2. Why the backlog grew: arrivals, COVID, staffing and rules
Three interlocking drivers recur across analyses: unprecedented migration flows that generated record EOIR receipts; COVID‑era shutdowns and office closures that slowed processing; and insufficient staffing and resources relative to the surge in filings—USCIS and EOIR repeatedly could not scale hiring and technology fast enough to keep pace [7] [4] [1]. Agencies also diverted personnel to immediate border screening and parole programs, further delaying interior adjudications, and some docket‑management practices—mass dismissals or terminations and administrative closures—changed the composition and trajectory of cases [5] [8].
3. Policy shifts that affected docket size and composition
Policy choices under Biden had mixed effects: humanitarian parole and other programs created new lawful pathways and filings that increased USCIS workload, while DHS and DOJ rulemakings—such as the 2023 “Circumvention of Lawful Pathways” rule and the June 2024 Securing the Border IFR—sought to limit future asylum eligibility and, after implementation, helped reduce new EOIR filings [2] [9] [7]. At the same time, EOIR used docket management tools—dismissing or terminating many non‑priority cases—to relieve pressure, a practice that changed case counts but did not eliminate the underlying accumulation of pending matters [5].
4. Competing narratives and accountability questions
Observers disagree about root causes and responsibility: some argue the backlog is primarily a function of record arrivals and structural underfunding that predate and outlast any one administration [1] [4], while critics contend that Biden‑era policies and incentives—like broader access to work authorization or mass case terminations—encouraged filings and thus worsened wait times [6] [10]. The administration points to operational constraints, pandemic disruption and the need for legal and legislative fixes; watchdogs emphasize data showing dramatic increases in pending inventories and long processing horizons [2] [6].
5. What changed after policy interventions and what remains unresolved
After the administration issued border‑targeting rules in mid‑2024 and later adjustments, new EOIR filings declined and the pace of backlog growth slowed, but the aggregate number of pending removal proceedings and asylum claims remained far larger than at the start of the presidency, meaning multi‑year waits persisted for many claimants [7] [3]. Reporting documents a persistent mismatch between workload and adjudicatory capacity—hiring efforts and procedural changes altered outcomes but did not quickly erase millions of pending cases—while differing datasets and cutoff dates mean precise totals vary across sources [5] [2] [8].
Conclusion
Across the available reporting, the unambiguous factual arc is an explosion in both immigration court and USCIS asylum backlogs during Biden’s presidency: a roughly threefold increase in EOIR pending cases to about 3.6–3.8 million by end of FY2024 and large increases in USCIS asylum and broader application inventories, driven by higher arrivals, pandemic effects, resource shortfalls and contested policy choices—each side offering plausible but partial explanations and none yet delivering a quick operational fix [1] [2] [5].