Putting TRAC to Work
  News Organizations
Cuba Headlines
March 3, 2025

Miami's Immigration Courts Overwhelmed: Cuban Asylum Seekers in Limbo
By Christopher Ramirez


Miami is grappling with an unprecedented crisis in its immigration courts, marked by an overwhelming backlog of pending cases that directly impact thousands of migrants in Florida. A report from Syracuse University, based on data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), reveals that as of December 2024, Florida had 178,709 pending cases, with 113,239 of those in Miami alone. Nationally, the total has surpassed 3.7 million cases, underscoring the collapse of the U.S. immigration court system. Cubans Lead Pending Asylum Cases in Miami According to TRAC's analysis, Cuba ranks fifth among nationalities with the most pending asylum requests in the U.S., totaling 83,066 cases. In Miami, however, Cubans top the list with 41,171 open cases. They are followed by Venezuelans (16,783), Haitians (11,573), and Nicaraguans (11,407). This makes Miami the most congested jurisdiction in Florida and the entire nation, leaving thousands of Cubans waiting for answers in a system that has exceeded its operational capacity. This backlog has created profound uncertainty for many immigrants seeking to regularize their status in the country.


Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University
Copyright 2025
TRAC TRAC at Work TRAC TRAC at Work News Organizations News Organizations