A Washington Post analysis says U.S. immigration judges have ordered more than 440,000 asylum seekers removed during President Donald Trump's first 19 months back in office, affecting people with pending asylum claims across the United States. The report says judges approved only about 5% of asylum requests in 2026, down from about 50% in September 2023, and that the asylum-court backlog has fallen from a 2024 peak of roughly 3.7 million cases to below 3.1 million; the judges are part of the Justice Department, and removal orders can allow ICE to carry out deportations.
Why it matters: This is a major shift in how asylum claims are being decided in the United States, with direct consequences for hundreds of thousands of applicants and for the size of the immigration-court backlog. Supporters see faster denials and removals as enforcement and backlog reduction, while critics are likely to question fairness, due process, and whether valid asylum claims are being rejected at unusually high rates.
Neil Munro
2026.09.24
100% relevant
This article establishes a distinct story centered on a newly reported nationwide asylum-adjudication statistic and enforcement outcome under the Trump administration, not a narrower existing tracked event.
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