Donald Trump’s promise to carry out the “largest deportation” in U.S. history faces significant obstacles, with billions of dollars needed to expand federal resources, including hiring thousands of new workers and building more detention facilities. The biggest challenge, however, is addressing the massive backlog in U.S. immigration courts, where 3.6 million cases are currently pending, the largest number in history.
The backlog has worsened over the past year, increasing by 44% from 2.5 million pending cases in 2023. U.S. law mandates that a final order of removal from an immigration court is required before anyone can be deported, and the lengthy waiting times for these decisions have been a major issue. Immigration courts, which are part of the Department of Justice rather than the judicial branch, have been underfunded and understaffed for years. Currently, there are about 700 immigration judges to handle the caseload, a number that critics argue is inadequate.
Eric Ruark, director of research for NumbersUSA, a group advocating for reduced immigration levels, stressed the need for Congress to fund an expansion of immigration courts. He called on lawmakers to ensure that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has the necessary resources to deal with the rising number of deportation cases. “We need more immigration judges who can deal with these cases efficiently,” he said.
John Sandweg, former acting director of ICE under the Obama administration, explained that speeding up deportations would require hiring additional judges and support staff. The current system, he noted, allows people to remain in the U.S. for years while waiting for their deportation decisions. As time passes, these individuals become more integrated into society, making their eventual deportation more complicated.
Adding judges to reduce the backlog was part of a bipartisan immigration reform bill being discussed earlier this year, but it was opposed by Trump, who argued against such measures. Despite this, Trump’s team is preparing to act swiftly once he takes office in January, with plans to increase deportations. Under the Biden administration, ICE deported 271,484 immigrants in the 2023 fiscal year, the highest number in a decade, and Trump’s officials are expected to push for even higher numbers in his first weeks back in office.
One of Trump’s key proposals includes funding to hire more ICE officers and border agents, as well as expanding detention capacity. Trump’s choice for border czar, Tom Homan, has called for Congress to approve funding for at least 100,000 detention beds to accommodate more detainees. The aim is to arrest and detain more individuals, speeding up their deportation by placing their cases on the “detained docket,” which is processed more quickly.
While the Biden administration has focused deportations on individuals with criminal records or national security concerns, Trump’s team intends to broaden the scope of deportations to include those who may not pose an immediate threat but are in the country illegally.
