The number of cases awaiting resolution before the Immigration Courts climbed to 344,230 by the end of fiscal year 2013, according to very timely government enforcement data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. The case backlog, which has risen 5.9 percent since September 2012, is now 85 percent higher than it was five years ago. Wait times have also lengthened. The average time these pending cases have been waiting in the Immigration Courts of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) is now up to 562 days. Nebraska leads the nation with the longest wait time of 761 days at the end of FY 2013; California is second with an average wait time of 686 days. Ohio (664 days), Colorado (663 days) and Michigan (624 days) round out the five states in which pending cases wait the longest.

In terms of the volume of cases, as of the end of FY 2013 California has the largest pending Immigration Court backlog with 77,246 cases. New York is second with 50,818 cases and Texas is third with 48,626.