Executive Office for Immigration Review Releases FY 2010 Statistical Year Book

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) has released the Fiscal Year 2010 Statistical Year Book. The book is a compilation of figures and tables that provides meaningful data on aliens who appeared before an immigration judge or the Board of Immigration Appeals during the previous fiscal year. It examines the data on the alien respondents’ cases by nationality, language, and disposition, and provides a window into asylum cases. EOIR also announced that, in addition to the standard information, this year’s book includes national pending caseload numbers for the immigration courts.

FY 2010 HIGHLIGHTS 

Immigration court receipts increased by 12 percent between FY 2006 (351,051) and FY 2010 (392,888).  

Immigration court completions decreased by four percent between FY 2006 (366,080) and FY 2010 (353,247). However, completions in FY 2010 increased by seven percent from FY 2007.

Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and China were the leading nationalities of immigration court completions during FY 2010, representing 67 percent of the total caseload.

Spanish was the most frequently spoken language for immigration court case completions during FY 2010 at over 66 percent.

Forty-three percent of aliens whose cases were completed in immigration courts during FY 2010 were represented. (Figure 9, page G1)

Asylum applications filed with the immigration courts decreased by 42 percent from FY 2006 to FY 2010. Affirmative receipts decreased by 35 percent while defensive receipts decreased by 56 percent.

In FY 2010, the New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco, CA; Miami, FL; and Orlando, FL, immigration courts received 62 percent of the total asylum applications filed with the courts.

Four nationalities were among the top 10 nationalities granted asylum each year during the five-year period FY 2006-10: China, Colombia, India, and Ethiopia.

The grant rate for asylum applications was 51 percent in FY 2010. The grant rate was 61 percent for affirmative applications and 35 percent for defensive applications.

In FY 2010, the percentage of asylum cases in which either asylum or withholding of removal was granted was 60 percent.

In FY 2010, 25 percent of proceedings completed at the immigration courts had an application for relief. 

Forty-four percent of FY 2010 immigration court completions involved detained aliens.

The number of appeals to the BIA from IJ Decisions is down for the fifth consecutive year.

Receipts of appeals of DHS decisions increased 99 percent from FY 2009 to FY 2010. Receipts of appeals from DHS decisions on visa petitions increased 115 percent for the same time period.

BIA had a 10 percent decrease in receipts between FY 2006 (39,743) and FY 2010 (35,787).

Mexico, China, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Haiti accounted for 56 percent of BIA immigration judge decision appeals completed in FY 2010.

Seventy-nine percent of BIA appeals completed in FY 2010 were for represented aliens.

In FY 2010, eight percent of immigration judge decisions were appealed to the BIA.

OCAHO case receipts increased from FY 2009 (31) to FY 2010 (91).

OCAHO case completions increased from FY 2009 (25) to FY 2010 (53).

KJ