On April 10, 2026, the White House released a sweeping statement declaring what it calls the most aggressive overhaul of the U.S. immigration court system in modern history.
Under President Trump, asylum is now granted in just 7% of cases — described as a "historic low" — plummeting from over 50% under the Biden administration.
The announcement encapsulates a dramatic transformation of the nation's immigration adjudication system, with profound implications for asylum seekers, their attorneys, and the broader immigration landscape.
The Numbers Behind the Overhaul
The statistics cited by the White House paint a picture of a system moving at an unprecedented pace.
In fiscal year 2025, immigration courts issued nearly 500,000 removal orders — a 57% increase over the prior year.
The administration also claims hundreds of thousands of cases have been cleared since Inauguration Day, with reductions in the backlog accelerating every month.
More granular data from the Congressional Research Service and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) adds context to these headline figures.
In FY2025, EOIR issued 767,398 initial case decisions, with the most common outcome being issuance of a removal order (63%), followed by dismissals and terminations (together, 27%).
Crucially, a significant portion of those removal orders were issued to respondents who never appeared in court.
Among the 485,456 removal orders issued in FY2025, 306,557 were in absentia removal orders
— meaning roughly 63% of all removal orders were entered against individuals who failed to show up for their hearings.
Analysts have suggested that DHS's intensified arrest operations may have deterred respondents from appearing in court out of fear of detention.
The White House further stated that more than three million people have left the country during President Trump's second term — characterizing it as the largest reduction in illegal immigration in modern history.
A Closer Look at Asylum Grant Rates
While the White House's 7% figure marks a dramatic decline, independent data suggests the trajectory has been building over time.
According to the Congressional Research Service, since FY2015, the annual asylum grant rate has ranged from 9.9% (FY2025) to 20.7% (FY2018).
The CRS's FY2025 figure of 9.9% — based on all asylum outcomes including abandoned and withdrawn cases — provides a more nuanced benchmark than the White House's stated 7%.
EOIR reported 267,284 asylum decisions in FY2025, with 31% being denials, 12% grants, and more than half (54%) categorized as "Other" outcomes
— a category that includes abandoned, not adjudicated, and withdrawn applications.
TRAC, the nonpartisan data research organization, noted that while the rhetoric has sharply changed between administrations, the most recent declines under President Trump were "actually a continuation of the declining grant rate that had already been occurring under former President Biden."
The grant rate stood at 48–50% in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, was still at 51% in February 2024, then began a sustained decline that greatly accelerated starting in July 2024, falling to 33% by January 2025.
The Reshaping of the Immigration Bench
Central to the administration's overhaul has been a dramatic restructuring of the immigration judiciary itself.
The Trump administration fired nearly 100 judges in 2025, as part of a larger push to reshape America's immigration courts.
The impact has been staggering:
the number of judges in the nation's immigration courts shrank by about a quarter in the last year due to firings and resignations, with twelve immigration courts losing over half of their judges and two courts left with no judges at all.
On February 4, 2025, the immigration judge corps consisted of 726 permanent judges spread across 75 courts nationwide. As of February 2026, that number had fallen to 520 permanent immigration judges and 33 assistant chief immigration judges.
To backfill these positions, the administration has taken an unconventional approach.
On October 24, 2025, EOIR announced the investiture of 25 temporary appointments of military officers serving as Judge Advocate Generals (JAGs), along with 11 additional permanent immigration judges.
Overall, military judges ordered removal 78% of the time compared to 63% for all other judges.
Notably, the DOJ's own hiring campaign has branded the positions as "deportation judges" rather than immigration judges
— a framing that immigrant advocacy groups argue signals a predetermined outcome rather than impartial adjudication.
The legality of these judge firings is itself now the subject of litigation.
The Merit Systems Protection Board endorsed the administration's argument that Article II of the Constitution permits the president to remove "inferior officers" — in this case, immigration judges — without cause.
The decision is being appealed in the Federal Circuit.
What This Means for Asylum Seekers and Their Attorneys
For individuals currently in or facing removal proceedings, the practical implications are severe. The combination of plummeting grant rates, a reshaped judiciary, and accelerated case processing creates an environment in which thorough legal preparation is more critical than ever.
Legal representation remains the most significant predictor of asylum success. Data from 2024 showed that 83% of applicants were represented by counsel, and of those, 53% were granted asylum.
By contrast, 17% of applicants lacked representation, and their outcomes were far more sobering: only 19% were granted asylum while 81% were denied.
Despite the accelerated pace of decisions, the underlying volume of cases remains enormous. More than 897,000 defensive asylum applications were filed in FY2024 and about 831,000 in FY2025, with over 2.4 million asylum applications pending at the end of FY2025.
Practitioners should also be aware that
in April 2025, EOIR published guidance allowing adjudicators to pretermit — without a hearing — asylum applications that "fail to set forth prima facie eligibility for relief," framed as a method of efficient docket management.
This means applications that are not carefully and thoroughly prepared face a heightened risk of summary denial before even reaching a merits hearing.
Practical Takeaways
For immigrants and their legal counsel, several key considerations emerge from this rapidly shifting landscape:
- Attend every hearing. With over 306,000 in absentia removal orders issued in FY2025, failure to appear is being met with swift consequences. Respondents who miss hearings face an uphill battle to reopen their cases.
- Secure legal representation early. The data is unambiguous: represented applicants are significantly more likely to receive favorable outcomes. Given the current environment, retaining experienced immigration counsel is not optional — it is essential.
- Prepare meticulous filings. With EOIR guidance permitting pretermission of legally deficient applications, every asylum application must be comprehensively documented with country condition evidence, witness declarations, and thorough legal argumentation from the outset.
- Understand your judge's profile.
Looking Ahead
The White House's announcement marks a defining moment in the ongoing transformation of the U.S. immigration adjudication system. Whether the 7% grant rate reflects genuine legal merit-based screening or a systemic restructuring designed to produce a specific outcome will likely be debated — and litigated — for years to come.
The administration can now cite the MSPB's finding to justify additional personnel changes, though a final outcome remains uncertain as the case could reach the Supreme Court.
What is not in dispute is that asylum seekers in the United States face a fundamentally different legal environment than they did even two years ago. For immigration attorneys and their clients, the margin for error has never been thinner.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. If you or someone you know is facing removal proceedings or considering an asylum application, consult with a qualified immigration attorney immediately.