Asylum offices
What the two offices covering New York and New Jersey reported in April 2021: staffing, backlog and the order in which cases were scheduled.
From the archive. These figures were reported in April 2021, when the national backlog stood at 398,000 cases. Both offices then scheduled in this order: rescheduled cases first, then cases pending 100 days or less, then everything else. Current figures will differ.
New York Asylum Office
The New York Asylum Office had 150 employees, with 14 to 17 officers physically present each day. The backlog stood at 46,000 cases, the oldest dating from September 2015. About 31 interviews were held daily and, as of April 2021, there were no plans to increase that number.
Since the pandemic restrictions began in March 2020 the office received 9,687 new filings, conducted 3,100 interviews and completed over 6,000 cases, of which 270 were granted and 3,969 referred to the immigration courts. Most interviews went to new filings; the older backlog was largely untouched. The office was close to current on new filings (3,217 received in 2020, 3,077 interviewed) and did not use a shortlist.
Newark Asylum Office
The Newark office, which covers both the Newark, NJ and Manhattan, NY branches, had 116 employees, but only five or six were physically present on a given day across both sites. The backlog stood at 25,000 cases, the oldest from September to October 2015, with some transferred cases from 2014.
Two interviews were held in Newark and six in Manhattan each business day. Around 500 cases awaited post-interview decisions, 400 of them for three months or more. Manhattan was current on filings; Newark was not. The office kept 300 cases in its shortlist pool.