USCIS Backlog Hits 11.3 Million as Trump Administration Cuts Asylum Interviews to Speed Up Cases

The federal government's immigration paperwork pile just got bigger. USCIS had 11.3 million pending applications and petitions as of the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, according to the American Immigration Council's USCIS Immigration Filing Trends Dashboard, last updated August 3, 2026, and reported by the Economic Times. That's up from 9.7 million a year earlier, a jump of more than 1.6 million cases, or 16.5%.

Fewer people are applying. USCIS received 33.6% fewer applications in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 than the same quarter a year prior, per the Council's data. But the agency completed 40.8% fewer cases over that span, meaning the backlog grew anyway. USCIS finished only 86 cases for every 100 it received. That's the 11th straight quarter the agency's completions have trailed its intake.

Work permits took a specific hit. Form I-765 applications for employment authorization saw pending cases jump 446,650, a 38% increase. Within that category, backlogged applications tied to adjustment-of-status petitions nearly tripled, from 154,469 to 461,884, even though USCIS received roughly the same number of these applications both years. Completions on that category collapsed from 170,256 to 86,756.

The government's fix: skip the interview

On July 27, USCIS announced an interim final rule, effective immediately, letting the agency refer certain affirmative asylum applications directly to immigration judges without conducting an interview first, according to the Epoch Times and Fox News. The rule was set for publication in the Federal Register on July 28.

Currently, USCIS interviews affirmative asylum applicants (those not already in removal proceedings) before either granting asylum or sending the case to an immigration judge for another look. DHS told Fox News Digital that this two-step process means some applications get reviewed twice, adding to the backlog.

USCIS Director Joseph Edlow defended the change in a statement to Fox News Digital: "For far too long, the asylum system has been exploited for purposes of delay and work authorization, not legitimate claims of protection. This rule will help ensure that resources are directed to the timely adjudication of those claims instead of to those seeking to use the system as a loophole."

DHS General Counsel James Percival made a similar argument, telling Fox News that "one of the greatest barriers to effective immigration enforcement is intentional delay by illegal aliens and the open borders attorneys who represent them." Breitbart's coverage leaned harder into blaming the prior administration, noting the asylum backlog reached 3.6 million cases by the end of fiscal year 2024 under then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, alongside a reported 8.1 million case non-detained ICE docket. USCIS is still accepting public comments before issuing a final version of the rule.

The human cost, either way

NPR profiled Homero Calderón, a professional soccer player from Venezuela detained by ICE in Folkston, Georgia, for roughly five months while two immigration cases, a tourist visa extension and an EB-1A "extraordinary ability" green card petition, remained pending. DHS told NPR that Calderón "overstayed his welcome in violation of our nation's laws" after permission to stay lapsed on September 5, 2025. Calderón's wife, Daniela Molina, said he had a valid international driving permit when he was stopped for speeding in Florida.

Shev Dalal-Dheini of the American Immigration Lawyers Association told NPR that Calderón's situation "is symbolic of so many other individuals who are stuck in processing backlogs at USCIS," and argued the slow pace may serve a purpose for enforcement: "It's an easy way for the government to meet their quota to detain and deport individuals when they know who individuals are because they've done the right thing and applied for something." No government official has confirmed detention quotas are being filled this way. The allegation deserves scrutiny given how opaque ICE's case-selection process actually is to outside reviewers.

A separate data analysis by the Mirror, using figures from the Deportation Data Project, found ICE arrests at or near airports rose sharply under the current administration, with 134 of 197 recorded airport arrests since October 2022 occurring after President Trump's return to office. The same analysis found the share of ICE detainees with no criminal convictions or pending charges rose from about 15% before the administration began to 54.3% after, while about 21.7% of post-inauguration detainees had a pending case but no conviction. The Trump administration has said its enforcement targets "the worst of the worst," a claim that data on the makeup of arrests, not enforcement priorities alone, will keep testing.

What's unresolved

The interim rule takes effect immediately, but USCIS is still collecting public comments before a final rule. Immigration attorneys are likely to challenge the process in court, arguing that skipping interviews strips a legitimate screening step for people with real persecution claims. Whether the change actually shrinks the 11.3 million backlog, or just shifts the bottleneck from USCIS asylum officers to an already overloaded immigration court system, is the open question nobody has data on yet.