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SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco immigration court building — where nearly two dozen judges have since been fired or retired – is set to close in January 2027, according to one of those former judges.

SF immigration court closing

What we know:

Jeremiah Johnson, who was fired as an immigration judge in November and who is vice president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, confirmed on Wednesday what was first reported by Mission Local and the Chronicle. 

He said he spoke to those with knowledge of a virtual Micosoft Teams Meeting on Tuesday, where they heard the Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Julie Nelson tell them the news.

What we don’t know:

He said there was no memo, or no written notice. There was no reason given either. 

Other federal building remains intact

The closure affects the court at 100 Montgomery Street, where the lease is up at the end of 2026. 

Jeremiah did say that at least for now, the 630 Sansome Street building, which holds the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, such as naturalization and Green Card programs, isn’t moving. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices are also housed on Sansome Street. Affirmative asylum cases will be heard at the building on Hawthorne Street. 

Shifting to Concord

What they’re saying:

On the one hand, Jeremiah said shifting cases to Concord isn’t necessarily an all-bad thing. For one, the Concord immigration court has a free parking lot and is easy to access from the freeway.

On the other hand, Jeremiah said he laments the loss of San Francisco courtroom access to those who live closer to The City, and he worries that the current administration is trying to get rid of the “progressive, left wing” institution. 

No comment from EOIR

The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the country’s immigration courts, did not respond to a request for comment.

Decimated SF court

Related

San Francisco immigration court decimated

San Francisco’s immigration court is now decimated, down to just four judges left to decide asylum cases starting Jan. 1, from a high of 21 at the start of the year.

By the numbers:

There were 21 judges at San Francisco’s two immigration court locations — with the vast majority at Montgomery Street — in early spring 2025. 

The Trump administration fired 12 of those judges, and another four announced their end-of-year 2025 retirements. 

Jeremiah said that the staff will be transitioning out of the space this summer, and the judges left this summer will most likely be transferred to the Bay Area’s other immigration court in Concord, which is held in a tall building in an office park with a free parking garage. 

The Concord immigration now has seven judges. 

Three had been fired last year. 

 There are over 120,000 pending cases in San Francisco’s immigration court backlog, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

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