{"id":402808,"date":"2026-09-17T19:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/402808\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T19:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:58:11","slug":"immigrants-wait-in-hours-long-lines-at-miami-immigration-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/402808\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigrants wait in hours-long lines at Miami Immigration Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Immigrants<\/p>\n

Immigrants wait for appointments outside of Miami Immigration Court in downtown Miami on Sept. 9, 2026.<\/p>\n

PHOTO BY AL DIAZ<\/p>\n

adiaz@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n

Mayerling Alvarado came prepared.<\/p>\n

She packed food and water, shielded herself from the scorching sun with a big blue umbrella, and took in the water views from her foldable chair.<\/p>\n

But this was not a recreational outing.<\/p>\n

Alvarado had set herself up to wait for hours outside of Miami\u2019s immigration court last week to support her husband, whose virtual hearing \u2014 originally set for 2027 \u2014 was rescheduled and changed to an in-person appointment in front of a judge.<\/p>\n

The Nicaraguan couple arrived around 4 a.m., fresh off Alvarado\u2019s graveyard shift at her cleaning job. When it rained, they huddled with others under the courthouse entrance, stifled by the heat of bodies and the subtropical humidity.<\/p>\n

Her husband\u2019s hearing was at 1 p.m. But they couldn\u2019t risk missing the appointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe prefer to come in early and lose a day of work. The last thing we want is to be deported,\u201d said Alvarado, 38.<\/p>\n

\"Mayerling Mayerling Alvarado, a Nicaraguan immigrant, wears an ankle bracelet as she waits for an immigration appointment for her husband outside of Miami immigration court in downtown Miami on Sept. 9, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

The immigration court in downtown Miami, at 333 S Miami Ave., has long been infamous for having the largest backlog of pending cases in the country. But in recent weeks, hundreds, if not thousands, of immigrants \u2014 babies, children and elderly adults included \u2014 have waited for hours outside its doors to attend routine hearings. They endure extreme heat, punishing tempests and gusts of wind in the process.<\/p>\n

Experts say several factors under President Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation agenda have contributed to the long lines, including cases being assigned earlier dates, a ramp-up of immigration arrests, and \u201cmega master\u201d hearings, where as many as 150 people are scheduled with a judge in one day to clear dockets.<\/p>\n

As of Sept. 8, immigrants have been required to show up for their immigration cases in person, doing away with virtual hearings, a COVID-era vestige that allowed people to attend hearings without missing work, traveling long distances or risking detention.<\/p>\n

\"Immigrants Immigrants arrive and wait in a cue line as they wait for appointments outside of Miami Immigration Court in downtown Miami on Sept. 9, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the Trump administration came in, they decided everybody is a priority. And they clogged the system with a lot of cases,\u201d said Elina Santana, a Miami-based immigration attorney. \u201cSo there\u2019s a lot more active cases than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Executive Office for Immigration Review, the Justice Department division that runs immigration courts, declined to comment. Under the Trump administration, the agency has hired more judges and boasted of a reduction of pending cases. It has also arrested people in courthouses nationwide, until a federal judge barred authorities from doing so.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really just a mass deportation machine, and it seems they are just trying to erode due process wherever they can to be able to say they deported more people than ever before,\u201d said Santana, who is also the former chair of the South Florida chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.<\/p>\n

The immigration review office acknowledges in its own manual that there can be delays as a result of mandatory security screenings. But immigrants in Miami are forced to wait hours before guards let them get screened, letting people into the lobby to scan their items through the X-ray machines in groups around the time of their hearings.<\/p>\n

Grace Willberg, a South Florida immigration attorney, has been to the court in recent weeks. She says she\u2019s seen the lines go as far as down the block to the nearby hotel. One of her clients, a young mother of two who lives in Stewart, got there at 5 in the morning for her 8 a.m. hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had heard about these long lines, but I didn\u2019t believe it until I saw it,\u201d Willberg said.<\/p>\n

More rain<\/p>\n

One morning last week, security guards came out and asked if there was anyone else with earlier appointments still outside. If immigrants don\u2019t show up to their hearings, judges often order them deported.<\/p>\n

\"Immigrants Immigrants seek shelter from rain and thunder while waiting for appointments outside at Miami Immigration Court in downtown Miami on Sept. 9, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Maidelyn Cruz had set up camp right next to Alvarado and Mendez, the Nicaraguan couple. She brought along a foldable chair, a table and an umbrella. She had an assortment of snacks for her 7-year-old daughter, who bounced up and down the short white wall that separates the courthouse from the Miami River.<\/p>\n

They had come all the way from Tampa for the hearing, resting at a friend\u2019s house before heading to the downtown courthouse. But sleep was hard to come by, with her daughter\u2019s asthma acting up and the anxiety of the hearing the following day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first court was easy because it was coming in on my schedule and there was no issue,\u201d said Cruz. \u201cToday I\u2019ve been here since 3 a.m. with my daughter. It\u2019s truly horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: A new era for Cuban migrants: Some can\u2019t get green cards despite decades-old law<\/a><\/p>\n

When Cruz arrived in the U.S. from western Cuba five years ago, border agents gave her a document known as an I-220A. Lawyers estimate hundreds of thousands of Cubans were given the document when they arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border. But an immigration board of appeals ruled that Cubans cannot use the I-220As to obtain a green card, leaving many people from the island in a legal limbo, with limited options to stay in the U.S. legally.<\/p>\n

\"Immigrants Immigrants wait for appointments outside at Miami Immigration Court near the Miami River in downtown Miami on Sept. 9, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Trying to become a green card holder as the options for Cubans and other immigrants in the United States narrow has been difficult, Cruz said. The Trump administration had also paused immigration applications for Cubans and others for several months, though a federal judge lifted the freeze this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou feel you are in jail,\u201d said Cruz. \u201cYou have a work permit and that helps a lot\u2026but I came all the way from Tampa praying no one would stop us.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the morning wore on, the crowd got bigger. Around 11 a.m. the gray skies erupted in a furious downpour. The palm fronds that adorn the court\u2019s cul-de-sac whipped in the wind. Those awaiting hearings huddled under the building\u2019s entrance to shield themselves from the rain. But the massive portico did not protect them from the lashing rain. Thunder furiously cracked as lightning lit up the sky.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not bunch up over here,\u201d one guard barked at the crowd. \u201cThis is a mess!\u201d<\/p>\n

Inside the court, the hallways were quiet. But some courtrooms were so full the benches couldn\u2019t fit another person. Inside Judge Thomas Ayze\u2019s courtroom, staffers handed documents to immigrants in a room filled with nearly two dozen people. The walls and the back of benches had samples of court documents and a QR code for address changes.<\/p>\n

In Judge Monica Neuman\u2019s court, a toddler with braids walked in between the rows of benches and dropped milk on the carpet. She jumped and mumbled as she walked out with her mother.<\/p>\n

\u2018A huge hardship\u2019<\/p>\n

Lawyers say that the hours-long waits to get into court is not just an uncomfortable experience. People must skip work, find transportation and childcare, and pay for gas and parking. Some people must also find housing if they come from elsewhere in the state, since the only two immigration courts in Florida are in Miami and Orlando.<\/p>\n

\u201dIt\u2019s a huge hardship. Not just financial hardship, but finding someone to bring you, all at what is last-minute for some of them,\u201d said Santana, the attorney. She had to help arrange transportation to Miami for one of her clients, a teenager from Fort Myers.<\/p>\n

And even though Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are not allowed to carry out arrests in court anymore, immigrants who have to show up in person for hearings run the risk of being detained while in transit.<\/p>\n

\"Immigrants Immigrants arrive and wait in line as they wait for appointments outside of Miami Immigration Court in downtown Miami on Sept. 9, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

The federal government has been rescheduling court dates and switching virtual hearings to in-person with little notice. Lawyers say immigrants have been accidentally skipping their hearings because they don\u2019t know they are happening earlier than they had been originally scheduled.<\/p>\n

Since mega masters hearings began in May, immigration data researchers<\/a> found that the number of people ordered deported when not showing up for a hearing has skyrocketed.<\/p>\n

The changes are also overwhelming for judges and attorneys. Several lawyers told the Herald that they are not letting clients go to court alone, so they now must show up in person, when before they could attend the hearings virtually.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday last week, Daimara Hechevarria Tamayo huddled under the covered driveway with her cousin, Claudia, a Cuban immigrant who was given I-220A paperwork when she arrived in the U.S. Security guards were telling people that they had to come earlier if they wanted to get in, she told the Herald. They had arrived at 9 a.m. for a 1:30 p.m. appointment.<\/p>\n

Hechevarria, who is a U.S. citizen, came to the United States 10 years ago through a family reunification process. She described her own immigration case back then as easy, and said she obtained her green card quickly after arriving.<\/p>\n

Now, she says, she cannot recognize the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the country of freedom that I came to 10 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Immigrants wait for appointments outside of Miami Immigration Court in downtown Miami on Sept. 9, 2026. PHOTO BY…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-402808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}