As Donald Trump prepares to take office once again, his plans for a large-scale deportation campaign face a significant hurdle—an enormous backlog in U.S. immigration courts. Currently, there are 3.6 million cases pending, marking the highest number in U.S. immigration history, and representing a 44% increase from the previous year.
For deportations to proceed, individuals must first receive a final order of removal from immigration courts. However, years of underfunding and understaffing in these courts have resulted in delays of up to several years. Trump’s goal of carrying out the “largest deportation” in U.S. history will require billions in funding to hire new federal workers and secure detention spaces for those awaiting deportation, in addition to addressing the already extensive case backlog.
Proponents of stricter immigration policies, like Eric Ruark from NumbersUSA, argue that the backlog can be reduced by increasing funding to expand the immigration courts and hiring more judges to handle the cases efficiently. Ruark emphasized the need for Congress to allocate more resources to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and to create more detention space for detained individuals.
The immigration courts are part of the Department of Justice, not the judicial branch, and are overseen by the Executive Office for Immigration Review. Currently, there are around 700 immigration judges, but this number remains insufficient to handle the massive caseload. John Sandweg, former acting director of ICE, explains that reducing the backlog would require hiring more immigration judges and support staff to speed up deportations, a process that currently takes years.
This issue has been a point of contention in previous immigration reform discussions. The bipartisan immigration deal earlier this year included funding to hire additional judges, but the bill failed to pass after Trump’s opposition.
As Trump assumes office in 2025, he inherits an immigration system that has already reached a high level of deportations. Under President Biden, 271,484 people were deported in the last fiscal year, the highest number since 2014. Trump is expected to further escalate deportations in his first weeks, with plans to increase the number of border agents, detention spaces, and ICE officers.
Trump’s advisors are pushing for an increase in detention capacity, with a proposal to hold up to 100,000 individuals in detention centers. This would require Congress to approve additional funding for detention beds and ICE agents. With Republicans controlling both the House and Senate, the new administration aims to quickly address these needs to facilitate its deportation strategy.
While ICE currently has funds to hold 40,000 people in detention, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, has emphasized that increasing the number of detained individuals will help speed up the deportation process. Under the Biden administration, ICE focused on deporting individuals with criminal histories or national security concerns, but Homan intends to cast a wider net and target more individuals in the country illegally.
The Trump administration’s immigration policies and efforts to overhaul the deportation process will rely heavily on Congress’s cooperation and the capacity of the already overwhelmed immigration courts.
