WASHINGTON — A surge in U.S. immigration arrests and detention has generated a sharp increase in federal court challenges, adding pressure to a judicial system already carrying millions of immigration cases as the Trump administration expands enforcement.
More than 43,000 people were booked into immigration detention in June, the highest monthly total since President Donald Trump returned to office, according to newly released Immigration and Customs Enforcement data reported by CBS News. The increase has coincided with a growing number of detainees seeking federal court review of their confinement.
ProPublica’s tracker, based on federal court records, counted 63,119 habeas cases involving immigration detention from January 2025 through July 21, 2026. The cases are filed by detainees challenging the legality of their confinement and have created additional workloads for federal judges, government lawyers and immigration attorneys.
The litigation has prompted some federal courts to establish special procedures for handling the volume of petitions. In July, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington issued a general order creating a case-assignment and scheduling process specifically for habeas petitions filed by people in immigration detention.
The broader immigration court system also faces a substantial backlog. Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse reported about 3.2 million active cases pending before immigration courts at the end of June, including more than 2.3 million involving formal asylum applications awaiting hearings or decisions.
The administration says it is working to increase the capacity of the immigration courts. The Justice Department said in May that the Executive Office for Immigration Review had completed more than 1.08 million cases since January 2025 and reduced its pending caseload from about 4 million to below 3.53 million. It has also added dozens of immigration judges and temporary judges.
At the same time, the government has continued expanding detention capacity. ICE has sought additional facilities as arrests have increased, while reporting has documented overcrowding at some detention locations.
The growing court workload reflects a distinction between immigration proceedings and federal habeas litigation: immigration judges determine many questions involving removal, while federal district courts can review certain claims that detention violates federal law.
The latest available data show that both detention and related litigation remain at historically elevated levels, while federal and immigration courts continue processing large numbers of cases.
