Immigration judges denying historic number of asylum claims

Immigration judges are denying nearly all immigrant claims for asylum, while simultaneously plowing through asylum cases at an expeditious rate.

A new analysis of asylum cases pending before the immigration courts, known as the Executive Office for Immigration Review, revealed that 94% of asylum claims — or roughly 13,500 immigrants’ claims — decided in June were denied compared to a 50% denial rate in June 2024, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at New York’s Syracuse University, a nonpartisan data research center that analyzes federal immigration statistical information.