Immigrants Take to Court in Record Numbers as Backlogs Pile Up

Visa applicants facing protracted wait times for benefits like work permits and travel authorization are increasingly turning to the courts for solutions.

The number of immigration-related lawsuits over administrative delays, filed as writs of mandamus, has spiked in the past two years. Plaintiffs are projected to file more than 6,200 such cases by the end of this fiscal year, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

That’s nearly three times the number of cases filed just two years ago, according to TRAC data, which dates back to October 2007. Those administrative delay lawsuits were rarely filed in immigration cases ...