Millions of immigrants are caught in growing legal limbo under the second Trump administration, an NPR analysis shows, leaving many more vulnerable to deportation. Department of Homeland Security processing times for applications such as naturalization, green cards, work permits and asylum decisions have lengthened since early last year, and applicants often wait months without confirmation that their filings were received, much less reviewed.
NPR’s review of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data found roughly 11.6 million pending applications across categories. Separately, USCIS reports 247,974 cases in a so-called frontlog — forms that appear to have been submitted, frequently by mail, but that the agency has not physically opened or categorized.
Immigration advocates and attorneys say the growing backlog reflects a deliberate strategy to slow legal migration by slowing adjudications. Critics describe an approach that prioritizes arrests and deportations over processing applications that could prevent removals. Supporters of tougher review argue additional scrutiny is needed to protect security and integrity.
USCIS officials say the agency has put in place enhanced screening and vetting measures that previous leadership did not emphasize. The agency points to tougher naturalization tests, social media checks and neighborhood visits as steps intended to confirm applicants demonstrate good moral character and attachment to the Constitution, and says it will not take shortcuts in adjudications.
For applicants and their lawyers, the slowdown has produced confusion, stress and concrete consequences. Attorneys report clients waiting a year or longer for interviews that are then delayed by paperwork issues and not rescheduled. Many people do not know whether USCIS even received their packets until an application is opened and assigned.
Pending applications — the total number of unapproved or undenied cases across all categories — have more than doubled over the last decade. That total jumped by about 2 million in the first year of the second Trump administration, a larger increase than during the entirety of President Trump’s first term. Some case types still move relatively quickly; others now face months-long waits before the agency acknowledges receipt.
Advocates say the data indicate the administration is slow-walking opportunities for people to adjust their status. Last year the administration paused many reviews, including asylum cases — which only restarted in late March — and reviews for applicants from 39 countries on a travel-ban list, citing security concerns.
Supporters of the tougher approach argue the surge in the backlog may reflect the administration ending other pathways to status that bypass USCIS, such as humanitarian parole. Some policy experts say the volume of pending applications shows the system is strained and call for pauses in new filings until backlogs fall, along with stronger fraud detection.
The frontlog is especially disruptive because USCIS does not confirm receipt until it assigns and opens an application. Many sensitive filings are still mailed, including petitions by trafficking and domestic-violence survivors, juvenile applicants and certain work-permit petitions. Electronic filing options expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic but remain limited, and attorneys point to the agency’s outdated infrastructure as a major cause of delays.
Immigration lawyers say clients can wait months — in some cases up to eight months — before USCIS confirms receipt. That delay can be decisive in immigration court: judges may refrain from issuing final deportation orders if a respondent can show the government paperwork proving a pending application, but courts and private attorneys sometimes press applicants for a receipt the agency has not produced. Lawyers report judges and opposing attorneys threatening clients with deportation because the government cannot or has not issued a receipt.
USCIS began publicly tracking frontlog numbers in 2023. The data show the frontlog was zero in 2023, rose to 77,291 by the end of March 2024 amid a surge of filings before new fee rules took effect, then fell back to zero over the next three quarters. After the second Trump administration took office, the frontlog grew again — to 34,028 in the administration’s first three months and to 247,974 by the end of September 2025.
Former USCIS officials note that frontlog figures can fluctuate with application volumes and that the agency had worked to reduce a frontlog it inherited. Still, immigration attorneys say the current rise in unprocessed and pending cases is taking a heavy toll on people and legal practices. Lawyers report clients are overwhelmed, exhausted and anxious about uncertainty, and they describe direct impacts on mental health and the ability to mount effective legal defenses.