A once sleepy immigration court in Concord is now bustling with new activity following the official closure of San Francisco\u2019s immigration court in September.<\/p>\n
From thousands of additional cases to a contingent of brand new immigration judges appointed by President Trump\u2019s Justice Department, court watchers on the ground are sounding the alarm about changes they say could impact due process for immigrants fighting their deportation at the Bay Area\u2019s only remaining immigration court.<\/p>\n
The rise of so-called \u201cmega-master hearings\u201d at the Concord court \u2013 where dozens of immigrants can be scheduled for the same hearing, sometimes with little notice \u2013 has also led to concerns among observers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last time we talked [earlier this year], I think we were averaging about 43 hearings a month,\u201d said Jere Ramsey, a volunteer court observer who\u2019s been tracking changes at the court since last year. \u201cAnd this month we have 104.\u201d<\/p>\n
Immigration attorney Heliodoro Moreno said immigrants with cases originally scheduled years into the future are suddenly being told to appear within weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had hearings in 2028 or 2029 as their final hearing,\u201d said Moreno, who serves as the senior removal defense attorney with Stand Together Contra Costa, a program under the county public defender\u2019s office.. \u201cThen [they were moved to] two weeks in the future. Not enough time to find an attorney. Not enough time to present their evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Devony Hodson, an immigrant from Nicaragua, told NBC Bay Area earlier this summer that her case had been abruptly moved from 2027 to July of this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuddenly, I got a notice on May 10 advancing my court date to July 6 of this year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Hodson\u2019s daughters arrived in the U.S. as unaccompanied minors and she joined them here when they were at risk of being placed into the foster system.<\/p>\n
Since arriving in the Bay Area Hodson said she\u2019s held jobs in fast food restaurants, caregiving, and construction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hodson said she and her daughters were granted extensions in her hearing in July, however, and then once again in September\u00a0 Her final hearing is now scheduled for December 2028.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) said in an emailed statement that the agency \u201cprioritizes the timely completion of all cases and makes scheduling adjustments as needed to ensure cases do not languish.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The spokesperson added that additional scheduling changes could follow the appointment of new immigration judges.<\/p>\n
Attorneys such as Moreno are urging immigrants to regularly check the status of their case online to avoid missing any court appearances.<\/p>\n
The San Francisco court\u2019s closure \u2013 and the shift of thousands of cases to Concord \u2013 has caught the attention of Bay Area Congressman Mark Desaulnier. Given the longstanding backlog in immigration courts across the country, he questioned the wisdom of shuttering the San Francisco court.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was the rationale for doing it?\u201d he said. \u201cWhat kind of analysis did you do? Is it going to help with the backlog? All those things and we haven\u2019t had a response.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then there are the judges.<\/p>\n
When President Trump returned to office last January, EOIR\u2019s website listed eleven immigration judges serving the Concord court. But more than half of them have been fired and replaced by the Department of Justice since then.<\/p>\n
Now the court has 20 judges, according to the EOIR website, including at least two assigned to a satellite location in San Francisco.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Observers like Ramsey say most of the new judges are appearing remotely.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve not seen anyone appear other than remotely, except for our four original judges,\u201d Ramsey said.<\/p>\n
Lopez said those remote appearances create another layer of confusion for immigrants and have led to significant consequences.<\/p>\n
\u201c[One woman] entered the courtroom and the judge didn\u2019t see her because she sat in the back,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cThe judge didn\u2019t see her so she was ordered removed in absentia.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has to file a motion to reopen the case and spend a thousand-something dollars more just because they couldn\u2019t see her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some veteran immigration attorneys have expressed a lack of confidence in many of the newly appointed immigration judges, citing a lack of training and little-to-no experience in immigration law.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s happening is we\u2019re seeing judges come onto the bench who really don\u2019t know the law,\u201d Heliodoro Moreno said. \u201cSo they\u2019re up there, they\u2019re saying things, doing things, that are confusing respondents.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to EOIR, the Department of Justice removed the requirement that immigration judges have previous experience with immigration law.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A 2025 DOJ recruiting campaign said the administration was seeking to hire so-called \u201cdeportation judges,\u201d a term that attorneys and immigrant rights advocates said has never previously been used to refer to immigration judges.<\/p>\n
Many of the newly appointed judges have enforcement-oriented backgrounds, such as prosecutors or DHS attorneys. Others come from the military.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to EOIR, all new immigration judges go through a rigorous training program that includes both classroom-based training and on-the-job training.<\/p>\n
At least five new judges serving the Concord court have previous experience working as ICE attorneys, according to EOIR press releases describing their backgrounds. <\/p>\n