Wait Times, Representation, and Denial Rates
Overall, asylum applicants waited on average 1,030 days - or nearly three years - for their cases to be decided. But many asylum applicants waited even longer: a quarter of applicants waited 1,421 days, or nearly four years, for their asylum decision. Not surprisingly, applicants who were not represented by an attorney and thus less able to present an effective case received a faster decision than those applicants who did have an attorney. Figure 2 compares represented and non-represented asylum cases.
Although all of the cases included in the graph were concluded in FY 2019, the graph shows the year each case began, which provides insight into the impact attorney representation plays on the speed of asylum cases. For instance, nearly half (45.3%) of the unrepresented asylum cases that began in 2019 have already been decided. In contrast, less than one in ten (9.7%) of the represented asylum cases that began in 2019 have been decided.
Record Number of Asylum Cases in FY 2019
https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/588/