The number of new cases arriving at Immigration Court appeared to stabilize in March 2025 after a recent sharp decline. New filings in March edged up slightly to 24,241 compared to 23,882 in February. This is a significant decrease from December 2024, when approximately 80,000 new Notices to Appear (NTAs) were issued.
Shifting Nationalities in New Filings
The composition of immigrants appearing in court has shifted notably between December and March. In December 2024, Venezuelans represented the largest group of new court filings. However, by March 2025, their numbers had declined sharply by 93 percent. Similarly, the number of new cases involving Cubans fell by 92 percent. In contrast, Mexican nationals saw a relatively smaller decline of 50 percent and consequently made up the largest group of new filings in March. Meanwhile, the number of Chinese immigrants fell by only 26 percent, causing their ranking to rise among nationalities represented in court.
Destinations and Residences of Immigrants
Texas, Florida, and California continued to be the top states where immigrants were either arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or resided after apprehension by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). These states also had the highest number of NTAs issued, initiating new Immigration Court cases. At the county level, Miami-Dade, Florida remained the leading destination for immigrants, a position it has held for several months. Los Angeles County, California followed closely in second place, while Cook County, Illinois (Chicago) ranked third. Notably, when combining the five boroughs, New York City surpassed Miami-Dade as the top overall destination for new immigration cases.
Increase in Detained Immigrants and Bond Hearings
While detained individuals still represent a small fraction of total court cases, their numbers have been rising. At the end of December 2024, approximately 20,000 individuals in pending cases were in detention. By the end of March 2025, that number had increased to around 33,000. This rise in detentions was accompanied by an increase in bond hearings. These hearings allow detained immigrants to request release under bond from an Immigration Judge. If granted, the judge sets the bond amount required to secure release and ensure future court attendance.
In March 2025, 1,884 individuals were granted bond following custody hearings—up significantly from just 667 in December. The median bond amount also dropped during this period, from $6,500 in December to $5,000 in March.
Insights from TRAC Data
These trends are based on case-by-case Immigration Court records obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). According to TRAC’s updated Immigration Court Quick Facts tool, the court backlog reached 3,629,627 cases at the end of March 2025. Of these, 2,020,815 immigrants have filed formal asylum applications and are awaiting hearings or decisions.
So far in FY 2025 (through March), Immigration Courts have received 349,165 new cases and completed 460,682 cases. Only 1.17% of the new cases involved deportation charges related to alleged criminal activity beyond possible illegal entry.
Outcomes and Trends in Court Decisions
As of March 2025, Miami-Dade County, FL, has the highest number of residents with pending deportation cases. This fiscal year, Immigration Judges have issued removal or voluntary departure orders in 47.0% of completed cases, totaling 207,506 deportation orders. In March alone, judges completed 82,655 cases, ordering removal in 41,813 cases and granting voluntary departure in 1,836 more—meaning 52.8% of March cases ended with a deportation order.
Among 3,635 cases where some form of relief was granted in March, 2,547 resulted in asylum approvals following merit hearings—a 70.1% approval rate. Geographic trends also emerged: immigrants residing in New Mexico had the highest proportion of removal orders, while those in Vermont had the lowest.
Mexican nationals led all nationalities in terms of removal orders so far in FY 2025. Additionally, access to legal representation remains a concern. Only 21.6% of immigrants— including unaccompanied minors—had legal counsel during court proceedings where a removal order was issued in March.
Bond hearings have also increased notably. Judges have conducted 19,099 such hearings through March 2025, granting bond in 5,190 of them. TRAC