Immigration judge removal orders spike in June

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — The number of removals ordered by immigration judges has reached the highest levels in years, nearly tripling since June 2024.

According to data compiled by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), removal orders hit 79,000 in June 2026, representing a nearly 200% increase from 26,360 in June 2024.

TRAC, a nonprofit and nonpartisan data-gathering, research, and distribution organization at Syracuse University, says the jump in removal orders coincides with a record high number of “case closures,” which hit 100,773 in June.      

Case closures, or administrative closures, have been described as a critical tool for docket management and addressing an ever-growing immigration court backlog.

According to the American Immigration Council, administrative closures allow immigration judges to pause removal proceedings and temporarily remove a case from the court’s docket. The outcomes of administratively closed cases can vary and include termination of the case, relief granted, or voluntary departure. The majority, however, have resulted in removal orders. TRAC data shows that since March, case closures have resulted in a removal order more than 70% of the time.

The data also shows that during the past four months, just over 2% of case closures resulted in relief being granted.

The American Immigration Council says such relief is only available through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and typically includes visas for survivors of certain crimes and children who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected.

TRAC also tracked the growth of removal orders by state and differences in removal trends across nationalities.

The data shows that from March to June of this year, Illinois, which has one of the largest immigration courts in the nation, saw a 120% jump in the number of removal orders, “four times the national increase,” TRAC said.

Among border states, removal orders went up 66% in Texas and 10% in New Mexico during that period. However, California experienced a 22% drop and Arizona a 12% drop.

As for the removals ordered by immigration judges by nationality, among Latin American countries, Mexico recorded the highest number of removal orders in June 2026, with 15,773 individuals ordered removed, representing a 25% increase compared to March.

However, when examining month-to-month growth, Venezuela experienced the largest surge among the countries with the highest deportation volumes. Removal orders for Venezuelan nationals rose from 7,813 in May to 10,939 in June, an increase of 40%, outpacing Mexico and highlighting a significant escalation in immigration enforcement affecting Venezuelan immigrants.

Immigrants from other Latin American countries also saw notable increases in removal orders through June, including Honduras (9,686 removal orders, up 39%), Ecuador (4,463, up 33%), and Peru (2,167, up 33%).

Overall, the data show that while Mexico remained the nationality most affected in terms of total removal orders, Venezuela experienced one of the sharpest increases among the region’s largest migrant populations during June 2026.

TRAC also noted that there has been a significant increase in the number of new proceedings filed in immigration court by the Department of Homeland Security, going from 31,000 last June to 52,000 last month.

“While closures are now consistently outpacing new cases, the Immigration Court’s case backlog remains stubbornly high with 3.2 million immigrants waiting for their cases to be decided,” TRAC said.

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