Immigration Court Cases: Hearings, Appeals, and Backlog

An immigration court case is a civil proceeding before a Department of Justice judge who decides whether a non-citizen can be removed from the United States and, if so, whether they qualify for any relief that would let them stay. The process begins when the Department of Homeland Security files a charging document, moves through at least one preliminary hearing and usually a merits hearing, and ends with an oral or written decision that either side can appeal within 30 days. Immigration court cases are run by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), a DOJ agency, and there is no jury and no government-appointed attorney.

How a Case Starts

A case begins when DHS files a Notice to Appear (Form I-862) with an immigration court and serves it on the person. The notice lists factual allegations, states why DHS believes the person is removable, and orders them to appear before a judge.¹ It can be issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.²

The notice may not include a hearing date. If it doesn’t, the court sends a separate Notice of Hearing. Keeping a current address on file with the court is critical. If a hearing notice goes to an old address and the person misses the hearing, the judge can order them deported without them being present.

What Happens at the First Hearing

The first appearance is a master calendar hearing. It’s a preliminary session, not a trial. The judge advises the person of their rights, asks whether they admit the facts and charges in the Notice to Appear, and asks whether they plan to apply for any form of relief.³ Final decisions generally aren’t made here. Someone who needs time to find a lawyer can ask the judge for a continuance.

The Merits Hearing

If the person files an application for relief, the judge schedules an individual hearing. This is the trial-equivalent stage. The person presents testimony, documents, and witnesses; the government attorney cross-examines and offers opposing evidence. The Federal Rules of Evidence do not apply, so the judge can admit anything deemed “material and relevant.”⁴ An interpreter is provided for people who don’t speak English, though quality varies.

Who has to prove what depends on how the person entered. If they came in with a valid visa, the government has to prove they are removable. If they entered without inspection, they have to prove they should be admitted. In every case, the person must prove they qualify for any relief they are seeking.⁴

The judge usually delivers the decision orally at the end of the hearing. Complex cases may be decided in a written ruling later. Two questions are answered: whether the person is removable, and whether they qualify for and should be granted relief.³

Relief You Can Apply For

Being found removable doesn’t automatically mean deportation. Several forms of relief exist, each with its own eligibility rules.

Asylum is for people who can show a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Applicants generally must apply within one year of arriving in the United States. Asylum opens a path to permanent residence and eventual citizenship.⁵

Withholding of removal uses a higher standard. The applicant must show it is “more likely than not” they would be persecuted if returned. It doesn’t lead to a green card or citizenship, and the person can still be deported to a third country, but it’s available to some people barred from asylum.⁵

Protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) is for people who can show it is more likely than not they would be tortured by or with the consent of a government official if removed. There are no criminal bars, which makes it a last resort for people disqualified from other relief. CAT protection offers fewer benefits than asylum and does not lead to permanent residence.⁶

Cancellation of removal has two versions. For undocumented people, it requires at least ten years of continuous U.S. residence and a U.S. citizen or permanent resident family member who would suffer “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” if the person were deported. Permanent residents need five years of green card status, seven years of continuous residence, and no aggravated felony conviction.⁷

Most applicants file for asylum, withholding, and CAT together on Form I-589 so the judge can consider each one if the primary claim fails.

Missing a Hearing

Not showing up carries severe consequences. If the government can show proper notice was given, the judge can conduct the hearing without the person present and issue a removal order in absentia.⁸ ICE can then arrest and deport the person without a further hearing. The person also becomes ineligible for cancellation of removal and voluntary departure for ten years.⁹

There are narrow paths to challenge an in absentia order. A motion to reopen can be filed at any time if the person never received proper notice, or if they were in federal or state custody through no fault of their own. “Exceptional circumstances” — serious illness, the death of an immediate family member, or similarly uncontrollable events — are also grounds, but that motion must be filed within 180 days of the removal order.¹⁰ Filing the motion automatically pauses removal while the judge considers it, and only one is allowed.

Appealing the Decision

Either side can appeal the immigration judge’s decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) by filing Form EOIR-26 within 30 calendar days of the decision.¹¹ The appeal must be received by the BIA within that window; mailing it by the deadline is not enough. The filing fee is $110, and fee waivers are available.

A February 2026 interim final rule tried to shorten the appeal window to 10 days and require summary dismissal of appeals unless a majority of BIA members voted to accept the case within 10 days of filing.¹² On March 9, 2026, a federal judge in the District of Columbia blocked the key portions of that rule, finding EOIR had not followed required notice-and-comment procedures.¹³ The 30-day deadline remains in effect.

After the BIA rules, either side can seek review in a federal circuit court of appeals. Historically, 15 to 20 percent of BIA decisions reach that stage.⁴ Separately, the person can file a motion to reopen based on new evidence (generally within 90 days) or a motion to reconsider based on legal or factual errors (within 30 days) with the immigration judge who issued the original decision.³

If You’re Detained

Immigration courts run two functionally separate systems: one for people in government custody and one for everyone else. Detained courts are often located inside or adjacent to detention facilities, frequently in remote areas, and they move cases quickly. Outcomes differ sharply. Data shows deportation rates around 93 percent in detained cases, with only about 16 percent of detained individuals having legal representation.¹⁴

Detained people are entitled to bond hearings, where a judge decides whether they are a danger to the community or a flight risk. Through February 2026, immigration courts held 28,951 bond hearings in fiscal year 2026, granting bond in about 28 percent of cases.¹⁵ Evidence from a bond hearing is kept separate from the merits of the removal case unless it is independently filed there.

Many detained hearings happen by video. A 2017 EOIR study found judges themselves struggle to assess witness credibility over video, which matters most in asylum cases where testimony and demeanor are central. Observers have also documented poor audio and video quality and the difficulty of confidential attorney-client communication during video hearings.¹⁶

Finding a Lawyer

There is no right to a government-appointed attorney in immigration court. A person can hire a lawyer or try to find pro bono representation, but the government will not provide one.¹⁷ This is a sharp break from criminal court, where the Sixth Amendment guarantees counsel for defendants who can’t afford one. Immigration proceedings are civil, so protections like Miranda warnings, the presumption of innocence, the exclusion of unlawfully obtained evidence, a speedy trial, and a jury don’t apply.

Representation changes outcomes. Immigrants with attorneys are significantly more likely to win relief, according to the American Immigration Council.¹⁸ But as of February 2026, only about a third of people who received removal orders had a lawyer.¹⁵

EOIR publishes a quarterly list of pro bono legal service providers — nonprofits and attorneys who commit to at least 50 hours of free legal services per year.¹⁹ ImmigrationLawHelp.org also lets users search for free or low-cost legal help by state, county, or detention facility.²⁰

Checking Your Case Status

EOIR’s Automated Case Information System shows pending immigration court case information online at portal.eoir.justice.gov and by phone at 1-800-898-7180.²¹ The system reports next hearing dates, court decisions, and motions. It will not show a new hearing date until one has been formally set, and it does not include bond hearing information. Only the most recent case tied to an A-Number is displayed.²² Official court documents, especially hearing notices, remain the authoritative source.

The Backlog, Staffing, and Policy Shifts

Anyone with a case now is operating inside a strained system, and that affects timing and outcomes. The backlog stood at roughly 3.3 million active pending cases as of February 2026, with about 70 percent involving formal asylum applications.²³ It stood at around 2 million at the end of fiscal year 2023, itself a 403 percent increase since 2013.²⁴

Staffing has dropped sharply. As of February 2026, there were 520 permanent immigration judges, down from 726 a year earlier after firings and resignations. EOIR also lost over 400 support staff, including about three-quarters of its attorney advisers and more than half of its court supervisors.²⁵ Twelve courts lost more than half their judges, and the Aurora, Colorado and Oakdale, Louisiana courts had no permanent judges at all. DOJ hired 17 new permanent judges and brought in 52 temporary JAG officers, and in March 2026 EOIR announced the investiture of 42 additional judges.²⁶ In May 2026, the main San Francisco immigration courthouse was shuttered after 20 of its 22 judges were fired, and roughly 100,000 cases are being transferred to the Concord Immigration Court 35 miles away.²⁷

Case outcomes have shifted along with the staffing. In fiscal year 2025, immigration courts issued nearly 500,000 removal orders, a 57 percent increase over fiscal year 2024.²⁸²³

DHS has also directed its attorneys to move for dismissal or termination of some pending cases so the individuals can be processed through expedited removal instead, a streamlined track that can produce deportation in hours without a court hearing. ICE agents have in some instances waited in courthouse hallways to arrest people as soon as their cases were dismissed. In September 2025, a federal judge in New York ruled that immigration judges must give individualized reasons for dismissing cases, not grant mass dismissals to help enforcement.²⁹

In February 2025, EOIR rescinded a 2023 policy memorandum that had directed judges to make sure non-citizens with limited English proficiency were provided in-court interpretation in their preferred language and had access to out-of-court translation. The new guidance calls the earlier policy “inappropriate” and defers to a broader DOJ Language Access Plan.³⁰ EOIR has also moved from individual judge performance quotas to court-level metrics, formally replacing the 2018 benchmarks.³¹

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Notice to Appear
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Notice to Appear Policy Memorandum
3
U.S. Department of Justice. Learn About Immigration Court
4
Brennan Center for Justice. The Immigration Court System Explained
5
American Immigration Council. Asylum and Withholding of Removal
6
Immigration Equality. Immigration Basics: Relief Under CAT
7
ASAP Together. FAQs: Other Immigration Options
8
Cornell Law Institute. 8 CFR § 1003.26
9
Justia. Orders of Removal In Absentia
10
U.S. Department of Justice. Immigration Court Practice Manual – In Absentia Orders
11
U.S. Department of Justice. Form EOIR-26 Instructions
12
Federal Register. Appellate Procedures for the Board of Immigration Appeals
13
Immigrant Justice. Amica Center for Immigrant Rights v. EOIR
14
Virginia Law Review. Detained Immigration Courts
15
TRAC Immigration. EOIR Quick Facts
16
Lawfare. New York Lawsuit Challenges Replacement of Immigration Court Hearings With Video Technology
17
American Immigration Council. Two Systems of Justice
18
National Immigrant Justice Center. Immigrants Need Access to Counsel
19
U.S. Department of Justice. List of Pro Bono Legal Service Providers
20
ImmigrationLawHelp.org. Helping Low-Income Immigrants Find Legal Help
21
U.S. Department of Justice. Check Case Status
22
U.S. Department of Justice. EOIR Case Information
23
TRAC Immigration. TRAC Immigration Court Backlog Update
24
Congressional Research Service. Immigration Courts and the Pending Cases Backlog
25
WAMC. U.S. Has a Quarter Fewer Immigration Judges Than It Did a Year Ago
26
American Immigration Lawyers Association. U.S. Immigration Courts Under Trump 2.0
27
NPR. San Francisco Court Immigration Closure
28
The White House. Era of Amnesty Is Over
29
Migration Policy Institute. Trump Expedited Removal
30
Immigration Policy Tracking. EOIR Acting Director Rescinds Guidance on Language Access in Immigration Court
31
Immigration Policy Tracking. EOIR Issues Policy Memorandum 25-47