Home > Immigration > Reports

Too Few Immigration Attorneys; Where You Live Impacts Representation

Published Sep 15, 2026

The latest available court data show that in August 2026 only one in four (24%) immigrants, including unaccompanied children had an attorney to assist them in Immigration Court cases when a removal order was issued.

While the government is always represented in Court by an attorney, this is not true for the immigrant. Unlike in criminal proceedings, the federal government is not required to provide legal counsel to those without the means to hire an attorney. While many communities including law firms and clinics attempt to provide legal assistance on a pro bono basis, their numbers have been insufficient to meet the need. As a result, the overall odds of having representation in Immigration Court completed cases has dropped from 63 percent in FY 2021 to 32 percent in FY 2026. See Figure 1.

figure1
Figure 1. Percent of Immigrants with Representation in Immigration Court Completed Cases, FY 1998 - FY 2026 (through August)

Efforts to expand the supply of immigration attorneys did increase their numbers so that the number of individuals with representation initially grew when the pace of case dispositions began growing after the end of the COVID-19 shutdown. This growth has been insufficient to meet the growing demand and availability has now declined. The actual number of represented individuals in Immigration Court peaked in FY 2024, while numbers with representation dropped in FY 2025 and FY 2026. See Figure 2.

figure2
Figure 2. Number of Immigrants With and Without Representation in Immigration Court Completed Cases, FY 1998 - FY 2026 (through August)

Where You Live Impacts Ability To Obtain Representation

For new cases arriving at the Immigration Court in the last 90 days, seven out of ten (70.5%) new immigrants to Maine had already found representation. Maine tops the list of states with the highest representation rates for new Court cases. The governor’s office in Maine has made a concerted effort to assist new immigrants through its Office of New Americans to help address the state’s workforce needs.

Hawaii follows closely behind Maine also with seven out of ten (70.2%) residents receiving Notices to Appear (NTAs) in Immigrant Court in the last 90 days already finding representation. Hawaii has long ranked high on its representation record and was at the top in May 2017 when TRAC first began monthly tracking of representation figures by state, county and local communities within each county.

In third place was West Virginia (65.5%), followed by Maryland (59.1%), and Massachusetts (56.8%) with a number of other states close behind. See Table 1.

At the other extreme with the lowest proportion of its residents who had found representation after receiving NTAs in the last 90 days was New Jersey. Fewer than one out of five (18.2%) individuals residing in New Jersey had found representation. Other states with particularly low initial representation rates were Alaska (24.0%), Kentucky (24.3%), Arkansas (24.5%) and Illinois (25.6%).

Typically, representation rates do increase as immigrants have more time to locate representation.[1] Table 1 provides state-by-state statistics on representation rates for all pending cases compared with rates for NTAs filed in the last 90 days. More detailed figures are available on representation by county and community (county subdivision) within each state in TRAC’s Mapping Representation in Immigration Court tool.

Table 1. Number of Immigrants With Representation in Pending Immigration Court Cases by State of Residence as of August 2026
State All Pending Cases Pending Cases Filed in Last 90 Days
Number Represented Percent Represented Number Represented Percent Represented
Alabama 22,358 8,143 36.4 291 88 30.2
Alaska 714 406 56.9 25 6 24.0
Arizona 23,764 15,120 63.6 1,325 660 49.8
Arkansas 12,576 5,146 40.9 376 92 24.5
California 331,503 245,842 74.2 12,966 6,851 52.8
Colorado 71,696 18,510 25.8 1,364 506 37.1
Connecticut 35,763 16,466 46.0 1,059 355 33.5
Delaware 9,410 5,781 61.4 332 109 32.8
District Of Columbia 2,319 1,621 69.9 186 92 49.5
Florida 491,582 176,244 35.9 24,910 6,907 27.7
Georgia 99,568 36,282 36.4 3,768 1,202 31.9
Hawaii 1,426 1,238 86.8 47 33 70.2
Idaho 11,823 2,593 21.9 126 39 31.0
Illinois 153,660 58,187 37.9 4,197 1,073 25.6
Indiana 67,246 22,915 34.1 1,983 574 28.9
Iowa 18,372 9,000 49.0 291 147 50.5
Kansas 21,027 6,838 32.5 371 190 51.2
Kentucky 40,800 14,333 35.1 1,282 311 24.3
Louisiana 23,543 16,073 68.3 2,480 1,215 49.0
Maine 8,536 6,261 73.3 210 148 70.5
Maryland 38,644 28,317 73.3 3,121 1,843 59.1
Massachusetts 125,430 72,232 57.6 2,719 1,544 56.8
Michigan 29,691 12,996 43.8 1,015 512 50.4
Minnesota 28,153 20,178 71.7 594 315 53.0
Mississippi 8,216 5,032 61.2 958 455 47.5
Missouri 26,472 8,657 32.7 483 212 43.9
Montana 1,787 500 28.0 31 9 29.0
Nebraska 19,829 11,583 58.4 380 196 51.6
Nevada 20,559 12,566 61.1 1,268 704 55.5
New Hampshire 3,740 2,327 62.2 195 101 51.8
New Jersey 208,726 78,116 37.4 5,913 1,076 18.2
New Mexico 2,954 1,977 66.9 572 302 52.8
New York 302,266 230,025 76.1 11,292 4,091 36.2
North Carolina 74,469 23,644 31.8 2,057 560 27.2
North Dakota 2,155 1,185 55.0 90 50 55.6
Ohio 51,336 34,715 67.6 1,338 727 54.3
Oklahoma 18,075 4,974 27.5 1,161 431 37.1
Oregon 23,134 6,824 29.5 255 66 25.9
Pennsylvania 73,102 45,646 62.4 3,223 874 27.1
Rhode Island 10,959 7,003 63.9 344 178 51.7
South Carolina 40,686 13,407 33.0 723 225 31.1
South Dakota 2,670 1,882 70.5 61 32 52.5
Tennessee 61,604 24,676 40.1 1,459 440 30.2
Texas 264,595 101,121 38.2 17,252 7,850 45.5
Utah 43,201 18,051 41.8 749 199 26.6
Vermont 1,047 517 49.4 30 10 33.3
Virginia 33,575 25,439 75.8 3,228 1,588 49.2
Washington 47,542 24,932 52.4 1,242 573 46.1
West Virginia 857 615 71.8 55 36 65.5
Wisconsin 28,148 11,467 40.7 746 222 29.8
Wyoming 1,208 565 46.8 44 14 31.8
Footnotes
[1]^ Individuals with representation because they can challenge the government’s attempt to deport them more effectively also tend to make up a larger proportion of pending cases. This is because it takes more time to hear and decide their cases. Cases without representation tend to get disposed of more rapidly. With fewer new cases being filed, representation rates nationally on all pending cases have actually risen in FY 2025 and FY 2026 both in terms of the number represented and the proportion with representation. See TRAC’s free Immigration Court Backlog tool.
TRAC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit data research project founded in 1989. Its public website has moved from trac.syr.edu to tracreports.org. For more information, contact info@tracreports.org.