As the San Francisco Immigration Court closes and cases are transferred to Concord, immigrants are facing confusion over where and when their hearings will take place.
The Concord Immigration Court began holding mass hearings in June, as the federal government pushes to reduce a nationwide immigration court backlog. But the transfers have left some immigrants unsure about where they are supposed to appear, according to Milli Atkinson, director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program at the Bar Association of San Francisco.
“We saw someone who checked online for their hearing at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco and seeing it listed as being at the Concord Court,” Atkinson said.
The person went to Concord, following the information listed in their court record. But when they arrived, they were told their hearing was actually still scheduled at the San Francisco courthouse, with the judge who had handled their case from the beginning.
The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the nation’s immigration courts, declined an interview with KALW. In a written statement, the agency said that “reducing the immigration court backlog remains one of the highest priorities for this administration.”
The stakes are high. Missing an immigration court hearing can result in an immediate deportation order.
Atkinson urges immigrants with pending cases to regularly check their court records and confirm the date and location of their hearings. She also says people should not skip court because they are afraid of being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Volunteers can accompany people to court and help document and report any violations, she said.
But the changes to the San Francisco court go beyond logistical confusion, according to Bill Hing, a professor of law and migration studies at the University of San Francisco.
Hing argues that the Trump administration targeted the San Francisco Immigration Court because of its relatively high asylum approval rate. He believes the court’s closure was politically motivated rather than driven by budget concerns.
The San Francisco court has a long history of handling high-profile immigration cases, including the government’s decades-long effort to deport labor leader Harry Bridges, an Australian immigrant and prominent West Coast union organizer.
Hing says the immigration judges being hired in Concord also have less diverse professional backgrounds than the judges who served in San Francisco. He sees the changes as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to restrict access to asylum, including policies that would require some migrants to seek protection in third countries rather than the United States.
“This is a dire situation, and real people are being denied asylum who are going to be hurt and harmed and persecuted back home,” Hing said.
