Immigration court backlog nearly equals size of Philadelphia's population, study finds

The US immigration court backlog reached nearly 1.6 million cases last year, with cases climbing more rapidly between October and December, according to Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which tracks immigration court data.

The backlog is almost equivalent to the size of Philadelphia's population, the clearinghouse found in its latest study.

Immigration courts, which fall under the Justice Department and decide whether to deport immigrants, have been bogged down over the years as more cases are added to the docket than can be addressed at any given time.