Get the Facts on Deportation Cases in New York

When we put out data at TRAC, we typically focus on providing a national snapshot of deportation cases. However, I wanted to experiment with providing data on a specific geography — in this case, New York — as a resource for journalists, researchers, and the public who often tell me they want information on cases a little closer to home.

For that reason, I created the following fact sheet on key data points on deportation cases in the State of New York prepare from our data at Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a research institute at Syracuse University. Links to the original data is included in each bullet point.

New Deportation Cases

• In FY 2021 so far, the immigration courts in New York State have received 8,176 new deportation cases. People from Ecuador made up the largest group of cases with 1,950 (or 24% of all cases), followed by cases involving people from Mexico (828), China (737), Guatemala (614), and El Salvador (500). (See data here.)
• Most of the new deportation cases, a total of 7,325 (or 90%) were at immigration courts in New York City and 586 were at the immigration court in Buffalo, New York. (See data here.)

Immigration Court Backlog

• A total of 150,873 deportation cases are currently pending at immigration courts in the State of New York. This is 11% of the total national backlog of 1.3 million cases. (See data here.)
• The backlog of deportation cases in New York State is up from 70,303 at the start of the Trump administration. (See data here.)
• The top nationalities in the backlog in New York include migrants from: El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, China, Ecuador, India, Mexico, and Bangladesh, Nepal, and Dominica Republic. (See data here.)

Outcome of Deportation Cases

• In FY 2021 so far, the immigration courts in New York State have completed 1,221 deportation cases. (See data here.)
• Immigration judges in Buffalo, New York, issued deportation orders or voluntary departure in 583 out of cases, far more than immigration judges in New York City, who issued deportation orders in just 371 cases. Immigration judges in Buffalo, New York, granted relief from deportation in 334 cases compared to immigration judges in New York City who granted relief in 2,851 cases. (See data here.)

Outcome of Asylum Cases

• Immigration judges in the State of New York have only concluded 598 asylum cases so far in FY 2021. Last year, in FY 2020, they completed 8,924. Four months remain in FY 2021 with a deficit of 8,326 cases. (See data here.)
• So far in FY 2021, 61% of asylum cases have been denied in the State of New York, while 39% of asylum applicants received asylum or another form of relief. The national average for asylum denial is currently 69%. (See data here.)
• Of the asylum cases that have been decided in FY 2021, 94% of applicants were represented by an immigration attorney. (See data here.)
• Immigration judges in New York City denied just 40% of asylum cases while judges in Buffalo denied 78%. The denial rate at Batavia, a detained court, was even higher at 86%. (See data here.)

Bond Hearings

• So far in FY 2021, immigration judges in New York State have denied bond in 84% of the 696 bond hearings completed so far. (See data here.)
• At the Batavia immigration court, a detained court setting, judges denied bond in 96% of all bond hearings. (See data here.)