San Francisco immigration court shuts down, striking at heart of historic advocacy
Elin, who immigrated seeking asylum from Nicaragua, is currently awaiting his final asylum hearing in San Francisco, and now will likely need to navigate the challenge of transport to the court in Concord, Calif., which is hours away from his home in San Francisco. Brian L. Frank
Elin, who immigrated seeking asylum from Nicaragua, is currently awaiting his final asylum hearing in San Francisco, and now will likely need to navigate the challenge of transport to the court in Concord, Calif., which is hours away from his home in San Francisco. Brian L. Frank for NPR hide caption
SAN FRANCISCO — The speedy shuttering of the main immigration courthouse in San Francisco affects over 100,000 pending immigration cases, slowing down their consideration and leaving more immigrants in limbo and at risk of deportation .
But it also deals a symbolic blow to a region that has long stood at the vanguard of immigration advocacy.
For decades, the San Francisco immigration court was where immigrants living between California's Central Valley and central Oregon could make the case for why they shouldn't be deported. The broad jurisdiction made it one of the busiest immigration courts in the country, hearing thousands of cases a year.
It was also one of the courts most likely to grant an immigrants' asylum application to stay in the U.S. Its closing comes as the Trump administration seeks to limit pathways for many foreigners to enter or stay in the country.
" It's part of the message that the Trump administration is sending, that they're not open to asylum seekers. And one way of doing that is closing the court that has been very generous to asylum seekers," said Bill Hing, a law and migration studies professor at the University of San Francisco. "It's sending a message that the progressive cases that have come out of San Francisco are going to end."
Earlier this year, the Justice Department, which oversees immigration courts, announced it would not be renewing the lease on the building at 100 Montgomery St. — the main courthouse in San Francisco, with 21 courtrooms. The move followed the termination and resignation of nearly all the judges who worked out of that location. The closure, which was supposed to happen at the end of the year but has been accelerated, sends 100,000 cases to the Concord Immigration Court, about an hour away across the San Francisco Bay.
About 17,000 cases will stay at 630 Sansome St. in San Francisco, another, smaller location with just two operating courtrooms.
