TRAC Immigration: Noncitizen Access to Legal Counsel in Immigration Court Differs by Language Spoken

TRAC Immigration has a fascinating new report on “Noncitizen Access to Legal Counsel in Immigration Court Differs by Language Spoken.”  There are lots of great tidbits in the data but I found this passage especially interesting:

“Table 1 and Figure 1 together show changes in representation among the ten most frequently spoken languages by noncitizens appearing in Immigration Court so far in fiscal year 2025, ordered by how often individuals with each spoken language proficiency are represented in Court. Since the beginning of FY 2025, noncitizens have received legal counsel in about 38 percent of all immigration cases overall. Among languages with at least 1,000 completed cases since the beginning of the fiscal year, Punjabi-speakers are the most often represented in Immigration Court cases at 84 percent. Mandarin speakers have the second-highest rate of receiving counsel, with representation in about 75 percent of cases. Spanish-speakers have been represented in only 34 percent of cases so far this fiscal year while Creole-speakers are the least-often able to access legal counsel, receiving representation in only 21 percent of cases.” (bold added).

KJ