Federal Government Records Record Backlogs and Low Grant Rates Under Freedom of Information Act in Fiscal Year 2025
The federal government turned away a record number of document requests from the public and accumulated its highest-ever backlog of cases in fiscal year 2025, raising critical questions about compliance with the Freedom of Information Act. Federal agencies processed roughly 1.6 million document requests that year—the highest total since comprehensive FOIA statistics began 16 years ago—according to government data. However, a New York Times analysis revealed that requested documents were released, either in part or in full, just 47 percent of the time, marking the lowest grant rate recorded since at least 2010. By September 30, 2025, overdue requests approached nearly 340,000, leaving pending requesters waiting an average of more than 240 days despite a legally mandated 20-day response window.
Staff Reductions and Administrative Backlogs Strain Federal Agencies
Current and former FOIA officials attribute the surge in inquiries to multiple factors, including artificial intelligence tools that lower inquiry-drafting hurdles, mass submissions from the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, and an increase in immigrants and lawyers seeking records for U.S. residency rights amid rising deportations. The numbers span the conclusion of the Biden administration and the start of the second Trump administration, during which federal agencies shed more than 14 percent of their FOIA workforce—hitting lowest staffing levels since fiscal year 2017. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiated steep staff cuts early in President Trump’s second term, with offices like the Department of Education cutting over half of its document-processing staff and seeing an 83 percent increase in backlogs.
Administration Officials Defend Transparency While Facing Scrutiny Over Delays
While the White House Office of Management and Budget blamed “left activists groups” and “Trump derangement syndrome” for query spikes after granting only 8 percent of its processed requests in fiscal year 2025, the Department of Homeland Security—which received 60 percent of all records requests—reiterated that it remains the most transparent administration in U.S. history. Government watchdogs and transparency advocates noted that fully unredacted records dropped to a record low of about 9 percent of processed requests, down from 22 percent a decade earlier. Furthermore, agencies have increasingly utilized procedural tactics like requesting clarification on clear inquiries to pause the statutory 20-day clock, which records lawyers describe as a deliberate strategy to delay processing until documents lose public relevance.
Public Impact and Legal Challenges Surrounding Presidential Records
The operational delays directly impact ordinary citizens, such as unemployed individuals like 39-year-old Gaston D’Agrivieri, whose legal counsel has awaited debt repayment records from the education department for over a year to secure student loan cancellation. Concurrently, broader legal and structural changes have heightened public scrutiny, including the Department of Homeland Security disclosing in August 2025 that it no longer maintains top officials’ text message data after abandoning automated capture software. The White House has also advanced a legal theory to declare the Presidential Records Act of 1978 unconstitutional to exempt Mr. Trump’s records entirely, while agencies face ongoing litigation and judicial pushback over extended deadlines and disputed disclosure exemptions.
