WASHINGTON.- The White House affirmed that President Donald Trump’s administration is restoring order in the immigration courts, after what it described as years of lack of control during the term of former president, Joe Biden, while highlighting a sharp drop in the asylum approval rate, from 50% to 7%.
In a message published on
In a statement, the White House reported that it is promoting significant changes in the immigration judicial system, noting that during the term of Democrat Joe Biden’s administration, courts operated with long delays and a high rate of granting of asylum.
The State Department reported that the Asylum granting rates have plummeted: Under President Trump, asylum is now granted in only 7% of cases, a record low; which represents a dizzying drop from the more than 50% that was simply approved with Biden.
“Permissive decisions”
The statement adds that the new policies put an end to what it describes as permissive decisions within the immigration justice system: “No more activist judges protecting criminal illegals. No more endless delays. Only results.”
The official message is accompanied by a graph that shows the evolution of asylum approval rates in the United States during the last administrations. According to the graph, levels have remained high in recent years, but have fallen sharply to approximately 7% in February 2026after the implementation of the new measures.
In this context, the United States Department of State reported in a statement that the reforms promoted by the Trump administration already reflect concrete results in the immigration system. According to this balance, in fiscal year 2025 the immigration courts issued about 500,000 expulsion orderswhich represents an increase of 57% compared to the previous period.
The statement also indicates that judges classified as “activists” were replaced by profiles oriented to rigorous compliance with the law, with the purpose of speeding up the resolution of cases and reducing waiting times.
The State Department highlighted that asylum granting rates fell to historic lows, while hundreds of thousands of backlogged cases were resolved, helping to reduce the judicial backlog that plagued the system for years.
More than three million immigrants in irregular status have left the country during the current mandate, according to the White House, and more than three million cases are pending in the Cortes.
Pending cases
Data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse indicate that the immigration court system accumulated millions of pending cases, resulting in prolonged delays and difficulties in executing deportation decisions.
In response, the Trump administration promoted structural changes aimed at speeding up processes, reducing judicial backlogs, and tighten the criteria for granting asylumin line with a policy of greater immigration control.
The White House maintains that these reforms mark the end of a period characterized by delays and permissiveness, and ensure a more agile system focused on the strict application of immigration law.
