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The main immigration court in San Francisco has mostly shut its doors after the Trump administration said it would not renew its lease. The closure creates chaos for more than 100,000 pending cases. And as NPR immigration policy correspondent Ximena Bustillo reports, it also deals a symbolic blow to immigrants.
XIMENA BUSTILLO, BYLINE: For over a century, San Francisco has been a major gateway into the U.S. The city quickly grew into a center for immigration defense after the U.S. enacted restrictive immigration laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act. That was the 1882 law that banned Chinese laborers from immigrating to the U.S. and denied citizenship to those already here.
BILL HING: Chinese exclusion set the groundwork for much of the litigation challenging deportation. And so I think that that's the bedrock, the foundation for great lawyering.
BUSTILLO: That's Bill Hing, professor of law and migration studies at the University of San Francisco. Over time, the U.S. developed an immigration court system, and San Francisco got its own court. It grew to be one of the largest in the country, hearing cases from California's lower Central Valley to Oregon. Now, after decades of operating, the main San Francisco court building has stopped hearing cases. The Justice Department says the closure is about saving money, but Hing says it could reduce the number of immigrants who get asylum to stay in the U.S., given the court's track record of approving asylum applications.
HING: The closure of the San Francisco Immigration Court is one major example of the Trump administration wanting to foreclose asylum to asylum-seekers because San Francisco, on average, has been more generous for immigration.
BUSTILLO: Immigrants with cases in administrative courts like these don't get court-assigned lawyers and they don't often have their own. But San Francisco was an exception. San Francisco is No. 2 in the nation for representation, and lawyers point to that as one reason why immigrants there had a higher-than-average success rate at winning relief from deportation. Ghassan Shamieh is an attorney in San Francisco, and he had hundreds of cases pending in the now-closed court.
GHASSAN SHAMIEH: The broader concern that many attorneys and advocates have is whether efficiency is beginning to outweigh due process.
BUSTILLO: One hundred thousand cases are being moved to the Concord Immigration Court about an hour away. That court has four judges, even though there are 21 courtrooms. Fewer judges means more delays for the cases. Now judges in other parts of the country are hearing cases remotely for Bay Area immigrants.
SHAMIEH: And so when proceedings - immigration court proceedings become more remote, more consolidated, more difficult to access physically, there's a concern that the system becomes less human and less fair.
BUSTILLO: Some volunteer networks are trying to change that. Lisa Knox is a part of a coalition that includes volunteer attorneys who go to Concord every day. And she said when the court first opened in 2024, missed hearings were a problem.
LISA KNOX: So a lot of people who didn't show up to court because they didn't get proper notice - their address may have changed, mail may have gotten lost, whatever reason. We saw a abnormally high number of people at this court compared to others getting ordered deported because they didn't show up to hearings.
BUSTILLO: Since then, a larger volunteer network has sprung up, helping people coming to court know where to park and what floor to go to. And volunteer attorneys provide legal consultation.
KNOX: We have a hundred - almost 100% coverage, which means there is someone there at almost every hearing in order to provide support, and so we're in a good place to just scale up now and provide additional services with the coming transfer of cases.
BUSTILLO: Most cases won't be moved until December, and the delays are hitting hard. One immigrant whose case is affected is Elin. He came to the U.S. from Nicaragua in 2020. His final hearing was supposed to be in San Francisco in 2025, but it's been moved several times. Now it's slated for 2029, still in the closed San Francisco court and with a judge that is no longer there. Elin, though, feels hopeful after his brother last year won his asylum case and now has a green card, but he's also worried about changes to the system.
ELIN: (Through interpreter) It is a balance because I do want my case decided and finished. And at the same time, I also want to wait to see if a change in president could be better.
BUSTILLO: And lawyers fear the broader consequences of smaller courts and postponed deadlines. Shamieh has cases assigned to judges who have been terminated by the administration in both San Francisco and Concord.
SHAMIEH: When you don't know what your future is going to hold or when your case is going to be held or who the judge is going to be or what's going to be the law at that point in time, then that has a chilling psychological effect on all of these folks.
BUSTILLO: The turmoil in the courts further limits the little due process immigrants get, he says. Ximena Bustillo, NPR News, San Francisco.
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