While the rhetoric has sharply changed in the transition from the former Biden administration to the Trump administration, the most recent declines under President Trump were actually a continuation of the declining grant rate that had already been occurring under former President Biden. Last year, as TRAC’s annual report had noted, asylum seekers were already having less and less success at their individual hearings before an Immigration Judge. This declining success rate continued its downward slide under President Trump.

The Trump administration, however, greatly increased the pace at which asylum decisions were being handed down. During April and May 2025, the number of asylum decisions peaked at over 12,000 case completions as compared with between roughly 6,000-7,000 that had prevailed under former President Biden. Since then, with the Trump administration’s termination of many Immigration Judges, the monthly number of asylum decisions has fallen from this peak.

This report is accompanied by the release of TRAC’s annual Immigration Judge report series available here. These judge-by-judge reports document that asylum success still varies widely among Immigration Judges. These new reports update each judge’s asylum decisions over the past six years through August 2025.