Launching OpenImmigration: 9.6 Million Court Cases, 1,409 Judges, and the Full Picture of U.S. Immigration

Today we're launching OpenImmigration — a free platform that makes U.S. immigration data accessible to everyone. Built on 4.2GB of DOJ Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) data, supplemented by CBP border encounter records, ICE enforcement data, and USCIS statistics, OpenImmigration covers the full immigration spectrum: 9.6 million court cases, 16.2 million proceedings, 12 million border encounters, and much more.

Why Immigration Data Matters

Immigration is one of the most debated topics in America, but the underlying data is scattered across government agencies, buried in dense FOIA downloads, and almost impossible for a normal person to explore. TRAC at Syracuse University has done important work here, but their tools are dated and paywalled for most features.

We built OpenImmigration to change that. Every number on the site links back to its source. Every chart is interactive. Every court, nationality, and judge has a dedicated detail page you can explore.

What's Inside

OpenImmigration isn't just court data. It covers the full journey:

• Border Encounters: 12 million CBP encounters (FY2020–2026), broken down by nationality, region, and encounter type.
• Immigration Courts: 88 courts with case volumes, asylum grant rates, top nationalities, and average wait times.
• 1,409 Judges: Individual profiles showing decision patterns, grant rates, and caseloads — revealing dramatic variation in outcomes.
• 258 Nationalities: How cases play out differently for people from different countries.
• ICE Enforcement: Deportation and removal data from FY2014 through FY2026.
• Drug Seizures: 1.9 million pounds seized at the border, including 65,000 lbs of fentanyl.
• Legal Pathways: Green cards, naturalization, refugees, DACA, TPS, and visa overstays.
• Appeals & Bonds: 1.46 million BIA appeals and 1.59 million bond hearings with outcome analysis.

Key Findings

Processing 9.6 million cases reveals patterns that rarely make the headlines:

• Judge roulette is real: Asylum grant rates vary from under 5% to over 80% depending on the judge assigned — same case, wildly different odds.
• Representation changes everything: Immigrants with legal representation are far more likely to win their cases, yet the majority go unrepresented.
• Geography is destiny: Where your case is heard matters as much as the facts. Some courts grant asylum at 5x the rate of others.
• The backlog compounds: 1.9 million pending cases, with average wait times approaching 400 days — and some courts over 1,000.
• Fentanyl dominates seizures: 65,000 lbs of fentanyl seized at the border since FY2023, overwhelmingly at ports of entry.

14 Data-Driven Analysis Articles

Beyond the raw data, we published 14 original analysis articles exploring the system's biggest questions:

• The Immigration Court Backlog Crisis
• Judge Roulette: How Your Judge Determines Your Fate
• The Fentanyl Pipeline: What Border Seizure Data Really Shows
• The Representation Gap
• The Price of Freedom: Inside the Bond System
• ...and 9 more covering asylum patterns, deportation, children in court, geographic disparities, and the TPS system.

Interactive Tools

OpenImmigration includes tools that go beyond static charts:

• Compare Courts & Judges: Select up to 5 courts or judges for side-by-side comparison with bar charts and data tables.
• Search: Full-text search across all courts, nationalities, and judges — with keyboard shortcut (press /).
• Statistics at a Glance: Every key number in one page with 7 data sections.
• Glossary: 34 immigration court terms defined, with structured data for search engines.
• Downloads: 18 free JSON datasets for researchers and journalists.

Part of TheDataProject Portfolio

OpenImmigration is the eighth platform in our growing family of free government data tools:

• OpenMedicaid — $1.09 trillion in Medicaid payments
• OpenMedicare — $854.8 billion in Medicare payments with ML fraud detection
• OpenSpending — $6.75 trillion in federal contracts
• OpenFeds — 2 million federal employees
• OpenLobby — $37.7 billion in lobbying data
• VaccineWatch — 1.98 million VAERS reports
• OpenImmigration — 9.6 million immigration court cases

Explore OpenImmigration

Visit openimmigration.us to explore courts, judges, nationalities, border data, and more — or start with our 14 analysis articles for data-driven insights into the U.S. immigration system. OpenImmigration is part of the TheDataProject.AI family of free public data platforms.