On May 1, the Department of Justice (DOJ) permanently closed the 100 Montgomery Street immigration court in San Francisco, California, eight months ahead of schedule.
The Executive Office for Immigration Review vaguely justified this by stating that it was shuttered to save costs, though it did not explain why this court was particularly costly, or why it needed to close eight months early. A law and migration professor at the University of San Francisco, Bill Hing, believes that the closure may be politically motivated, as this court had high rates of approving asylum seekers.
This court is a “major hub of immigration,” attracting many asylum seekers, as suggested by Hing’s suspicion. As a direct consequence of this premature closure, 15,000 immigration cases are now in limbo. Remaining cases will be processed by the Concord Immigration Court, or on a remote basis.
Before the closure of the court, it was rendered paralyzed when the DOJ terminated the positions of 20 out of 22 of the immigration judges that presided over it. Around the time of the closure, the legal process for several immigrants broke down; many of them received false notices stating that their cases were closed, when in reality, they merely moved. Some did not get notices “in time for the hearings.”
