The United States is currently facing a record high of nearly 1.6 million pending asylum applications, according to data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, ADN America reports.
This marks a seven-fold increase in asylum cases in U.S. immigration courts since 2012.
In fact, the number of pending cases has grown from 100,000 ten years ago to over 750,000 by the end of the 2022 fiscal year.
In the first two months of 2023 alone, the asylum backlog surged by more than 30,000 additional cases, totaling 787,882.
Asylum seekers in the U.S. come from a diverse range of countries, with 219 different countries of origin and 418 different languages spoken among them.
The leading countries of origin include Guatemala, Venezuela, Cuba, and Brazil.
Approximately 30% of all applications are for children under the age of ten.
According to the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), a non-profit organization assisting asylum seekers, most migrants must wait an average of 4.3 years for their asylum hearing.
While they wait, some are enrolled in the Department of Homeland Security’s Alternative to Detention program and others are held in ICE detention centers.
“It can take many years for the government to even call them [asylum seekers] for an interview or to go to court,” says Conchita Cruz, co-executive director of ASAP.
