The number of applications for asylum in September 2001 increased 39 percent compared to the number filed in September 2000. The pending caseload was 1 percent lower than in the same month last year.

IJ - Immigration Judges at the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).

Cases filed - includes both new and reopened applications.

Denied - includes applications rejected under the one-year filing deadline.

Data Source: RAPS

• Nationals of Mexico submitted the most asylum applications in FY 2001, followed by the People’s Republic of China and Colombia.

• There has been a dramatic increase this fiscal year in new receipts covered by asylum reform. Many of these applicants are Mexican nationals who have been in the United States for a long period of time. A great number of these applications are rejected for failing to meet the one year filing deadline and failing to establish extraordinary or changed circumstances excusing them from the one year deadline.