As Texas remains a frequent destination for migrants crossing the border into the United States, understanding the state’s immigration courts remains valuable to the news media and the public. New data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University provides a breakdown of new cases filed at the Houston immigration court, the number of pending immigration cases, and outcomes of asylum cases.
Data about the Houston immigration court updated through the end of August 2021 can be found below. Although Houston is home to three separate courts, this data reflects the main Houston court with the most cases in our dataset. The interactive tools that TRAC provides allows journalists to identify data they need based on their beat, stories, or interests. The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) is a non-partisan academic research institute at Syracuse University that studies the federal government.
New Deportation Cases
- In FY 2021, so far, the immigration court in Houston, Texas, has received 4,587 new deportation cases. People from Honduras made up the largest group of cases with 1,394 new cases filed, followed by cases involving people from Guatemala (812), Venezuela (546), Cuba (479), and Nicaragua (414). (See data here.)
Immigration Court Backlog
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A total of 38,390 deportation cases are currently pending at the Houston immigration court. More than 1.4 million immigration cases are pending across the entire country. (See data here.)
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The backlog of deportation cases in Texas has more than doubled since the beginning of the Trump administration : the number of pending cases in FY 2016 was 91,865, while current numbers in FY 2021 are at 227,644. (See data here.)
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Across Texas, Harris County (Houston) has more immigrants currently facing deportation than any other county in the state with 67,455 total pending cases. Dallas County has 28,668 total pending cases, and Travis County (Austin) has 13,752 total pending cases. (See data here.)
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For cases filed in Houston within the past 90 days, only 5.8% are represented by an attorney. (See data here.)
Outcome of Asylum Cases
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Immigration judges in Houston have completed 121 asylum cases so far in FY 2021. Last year, in FY 2020, they completed 3,592. (See data here.)
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Immigration judges in Houston have denied 74% of all asylum applications so far in FY 2021, and approved just 26%. This is slightly higher than the national average. By comparison, 65% of all asylum cases nationally have been denied and 35% have been approved. (See data here.)
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The asylum denial rate at the Houston immigration court has exceeded that of the national average for years. Since FY 2015, the denial rate of the Houston court has hovered around 90%, with a high of 95.2% during FY2019. (See data here.)
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So far during FY 2021, Immigration judges at the nearby San Antonio immigration court denied fewer asylum cases (around 56%) and approved more (44%) compared to Houston. (See data here)
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87.6% of asylum applicants were represented by the time a judge issued a decision in the case. (See data here.)
*Data for this Fiscal Year begins in October 2020 and has been updated through the end of August 2021.
