The backlog of unresolved immigration cases in the United States has reached 12.1 million people, according to the latest U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data. The administration frames the slowdown as a necessary vetting overhaul. Former USCIS officials say the effect is a mechanism that converts legal applicants into deportation targets.
The scale of the delay
The 12.1 million figure combines two queues. One covers 7.5 million people awaiting decisions on citizenship, green cards and work permits. The broader count adds millions waiting on asylum, humanitarian protections and work visas.
The pace of the slowdown is documented. Naturalization processing times doubled between June 2024 and June 2026, from roughly five months to about ten. Cubans applying for permanent residency now wait more than 21 months for a decision, up from about six months two years ago. More than 5.6 million people have been waiting longer than six months across six tracked application types. The agency also reported 38,500 unopened applications as of March 31. A wave of DOGE-induced retirements has thinned the USCIS workforce throughout this period.
How the limbo becomes an arrest window
A pending application no longer appears to shield its holder from enforcement. ICE has arrested travelers with pending cases at airports in Philadelphia and Denver. Unauthorized immigrants married to U.S. citizens are being arrested at the USCIS interviews meant to resolve their status. Refugees, eligible to apply for permanent residency after one year in the country, are being detained while their cases move through the system.
Sarah Pierce, a former USCIS policy analyst who now directs social policy at Third Way, called the dynamic "like a form of entrapment." Longer processing times, she argued, keep applicants exposed to detention for a longer stretch, giving ICE a larger pool from which to build deportation numbers. Mike Watkins, a former USCIS supervisor who left last year and now runs his own immigration law practice, said the agency appears to have run out of straightforward deportation targets, which is why cases are piling up.
The counterargument
USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler described the agency's approach as "deliberate, data-driven, and risk-informed," aimed at fraud prevention and legal integrity. The administration has consistently said it planned to increase vetting and scrutiny across all application types. Tighter review takes longer. The legal question, now contested in court, is whether pausing entire application categories goes beyond vetting.
On balance
The backlog grew by roughly 2 million cases between June 2024 and June 2026, according to agency data. Among people in DACA-related categories waiting more than six months for work authorization, the count stands at 1.3 million today. Two years ago it was 556,000.