In the last five years, the number of immigration attorney representing noncitizens facing deportation has dropped dramatically, according to a shocking new study. This means that millions of people have to deal with the complicated and high-stakes legal system on their own.
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University collected the data, which shows that the number of people who have an attorney has dropped from 65% to 30% in the last five years.
Immigration Court Backlog and Number of Cases With and Without Representation, December 2023
| Court Backlog | Immigrants with Representation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | Percent Yes | ||
| End of FY 2019 | 1,023,767 | 660,366 | 363,401 | 65% |
| End of Dec 2023 | 3,287,058 | 987,770 | 2,299,288 | 30% |
| Change | >3.2 times | >1.5 times | >6.3 times | |
Along with this drop, the number of open immigration cases has tripled since 2019, and there are now more than 3 million of them.
Noncitizens can easily make mistakes in the legal process if they don’t have a good lawyer. These mistakes can have bad results, cause delays, and make things more stressful.
“Immigration court is very hard to get through without a lawyer, and the odds are against you,” said Judy London, who is the director of the Immigrants’ Rights Project at Public Counsel. “Even small mistakes can cause your case to be thrown out.”
The lack of immigration lawyers compared to the number of migrants is causing a representation problem. In the past year, more than 2 million people have come to the Southwest border to ask for protection before Title 42 is lifted.
Immigration Court Backlog by State and Number of Cases with Representation, December 2023
| Immigration Court State | Case Backlog | Represented | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Percent | Rank | ||
| Total | 3,287,058 | 987,770 | 30% | |
| Hawaii | 911 | 510 | 56% | 1 |
| California | 348,138 | 171,547 | 49% | 2 |
| New York | 344,505 | 151,819 | 44% | 3 |
| Virginia | 83,678 | 36,550 | 44% | 3 |
| Massachusetts | 149,278 | 61,198 | 41% | 5 |
| Nebraska | 38,917 | 15,921 | 41% | 5 |
| Pennsylvania | 75,978 | 30,006 | 39% | 7 |
| Maryland | 63,330 | 24,193 | 38% | 8 |
| Minnesota | 37,986 | 14,403 | 38% | 8 |
| Nevada | 17,857 | 6,409 | 36% | 10 |
| Washington | 41,536 | 14,869 | 36% | 10 |
| Arizona | 26,597 | 9,322 | 35% | 12 |
| Michigan | 22,769 | 7,330 | 32% | 13 |
| New Jersey | 186,317 | 59,378 | 32% | 13 |
| Ohio | 47,789 | 14,905 | 31% | 15 |
| Louisiana | 56,882 | 17,704 | 31% | 15 |
| Missouri | 40,586 | 10,286 | 25% | 17 |
| Illinois | 211,096 | 52,023 | 25% | 17 |
| Utah | 39,803 | 9,447 | 24% | 19 |
| Oregon | 30,087 | 7,071 | 24% | 19 |
| Florida | 481,376 | 101,551 | 21% | 21 |
| Tennessee | 120,825 | 23,625 | 20% | 22 |
| Connecticut | 40,002 | 7,750 | 19% | 23 |
| Texas | 458,630 | 85,461 | 19% | 23 |
| Georgia | 128,256 | 23,857 | 19% | 23 |
| North Carolina | 127,427 | 21,066 | 17% | 26 |
| New Mexico | 271 | 38 | 14% | 27 |
| Colorado | 65,670 | 9,179 | 14% | 27 |
| Other* | 561 | 352 | 63% | — |
There have been a lot more new cases, but there haven’t been as many lawyers ready to help.
Fatma Marouf, a professor of law and director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at Texas A&M University, said, “There aren’t enough immigration lawyers to meet the need.” “There is a huge budget shortfall that puts due process at risk across the whole system.”
Scrambling for Representation While Backlog Swells
Advocates say that when judges are overworked and lawyers aren’t there, mistakes in filings, delays in hearings, and wrong deportations are almost certain to happen.
“Applicants who don’t have lawyers often send in wrong or incomplete applications that can get them turned down,” said Sirine Shebaya, Executive Director of the National Immigration Project. “We’ve seen many asylum seekers ordered removed just because they filed something late or filled out a form incorrectly.”
It’s hard for even people who are in jail to find lawyers before their trials. Marouf said, “There are people in jail fighting their cases alone when their freedom is at stake.” “This is a huge violation of rights.”