Asylum seekers wait 4+ years for a court hearing due to 3.7M case backlog

As of end of FY2024, U.S. immigration courts had 3.7 million pending cases, with the average asylum case waiting 4.3 years for a hearing. Each immigration judge carries an average caseload of 5,286 cases, double what it was a decade ago. So what? During those 4+ years, asylum seekers live in legal limbo: they cannot petition for family reunification, their work authorization is precarious and subject to policy changes, and they cannot travel internationally without risking their case. So what? This limbo prevents them from making long-term decisions like signing a lease, enrolling in multi-year education programs, or accepting employer-sponsored training, because they could receive a removal order at any time. So what? Employers are reluctant to invest in training someone whose legal status is uncertain, so asylum seekers are channeled into day labor, gig work, and cash-economy jobs far below their skill level. So what? The U.S. economy loses the productive capacity of hundreds of thousands of working-age adults stuck in underemployment for half a decade. The structural reason this persists is that immigration judge hiring has not scaled proportionally to case volume, and frequent policy shifts (expedited removal, asylum bars, stays) repeatedly reshuffle docket priorities rather than clearing the backlog.