The Department of Justice accelerated the closure of the main San Francisco immigration courthouse at 100 Montgomery St., moving more than 100,000 pending immigration cases to the Concord Immigration Court and leaving many immigrants facing new travel burdens,
SAN FRANCISCO — Elin arrived seeking asylum from Nicaragua and has been waiting for years for what was supposed to be his final hearing. Now that clock has moved again, and the change is not just legal—it’s physical, exhausting, and frightening.
By the time his case is likely to be heard. he may have to navigate a commute of more than an hour to Concord. Calif. even though he does not own a car. The San Francisco immigration courthouse where his case had been tracked is closing faster than planned. and the shift is sending large numbers of pending cases across the Bay.
The speedy shutdown of the main immigration courthouse in San Francisco affects over 100. 000 pending immigration cases. slowing their consideration and leaving more immigrants in limbo and at risk of deportation. For decades. the San Francisco immigration court served as a destination for immigrants living between California’s Central Valley and central Oregon to argue against deportation. With broad jurisdiction, it became one of the busiest immigration courts in the country, hearing thousands of cases a year.
It was also a court that, on average, approved asylum applications more often than other parts of the country. In fiscal year 2025, the San Francisco court denied asylum about 30% of the time—about half the national average. Data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse shows that since 2004. more than half of respondents who received a decision were approved for asylum.
The closure was tied to a lease and accelerated timelines. The Justice Department announced it would not renew the lease on the building at 100 Montgomery St. the main courthouse in San Francisco. which has 21 courtrooms. The move followed the termination and resignation of nearly all the judges who worked at that location. The closure, initially supposed to happen at the end of the year, was accelerated. The result is that 100. 000 cases are being sent to the Concord Immigration Court. about an hour away across the San Francisco Bay. Another 17,000 cases will remain at 630 Sansome St. in San Francisco, a smaller location with just two operating courtrooms.
The DOJ cited cost saving as the reason for closing the building. The department did not respond to a request for comment about whether the closure is connected to the court’s asylum-approval track record. Kathryn Mattingly. a spokesperson for the Executive Office for Immigration Review—the DOJ branch that oversees immigration courts—said in a statement that reducing the immigration court backlog remains a priority.
“Any immigration judge can hear any case at any time throughout the country to assist with caseloads,” Mattingly said. She added that as EOIR adds new judges, scheduling adjustments will ensure cases are handled “in a timely and lawful manner.”
For immigrants and attorneys, the concern is what “lawful” and “timely” look like when hearings are repeatedly upended and the destination court is not fully staffed.
The Concord Immigration Court, now absorbing most of the cases from the shutdown, has never been fully staffed. At the start of the year. the immigration court system nationally had a quarter fewer immigration judges compared to the start of 2025. even as the backlog in cases reached 3.5 million. The reduction hit the Bay Area hard. San Francisco went from 21 judges to two at a second location in the city; Concord was meant to have 21 judges but now has 4. not counting the supervisor.
As cases move to Concord, immigration judges are also being terminated in that location. The Trump administration has terminated over 130 immigration judges nationally, and many others have resigned or retired. While the Justice Department boasted of hiring the most immigration judges in one year— including a record-setting class of more than 80 people in May—only one of those new judges is currently assigned to Concord.
Some hearings at Concord are being scheduled for nameless “visiting judges,” with no clarity on whether that means a newly hired judge, a judge from another part of the country, or a judge who will appear via video conference. Attorneys say that lack of certainty can make it harder to prepare.
Mattingly said any immigration judge can be assigned across the nation as needed, and that cases will be “timely adjudicated either at the Concord Immigration Court or remotely.” She again pointed to the goal of reducing the backlog.
That uncertainty is now landing in the lives of people who had already endured years of delay. Shamieh. an immigration attorney with cases in the closing court. said he has hundreds of cases still pending at the Montgomery San Francisco court. which currently has no judges and no hearings scheduled ahead of its December closure.
“It’s incredibly scary,” Shamieh said. “Judges had cases going till 2027, 2028.”
Elin’s story shows how sharply the disruption can affect someone who does not have the means to absorb it. Elin entered the U.S. from Nicaragua in 2020 and has been waiting for a final hearing in San Francisco for several years. His hearing has been rescheduled multiple times. One delay came after the judge who was supposed to hear his case was fired. His case is now slated for 2029. in San Francisco at the closed Montgomery location. before being poised to move to Concord—meaning a commute of more than an hour that he cannot make by car.
“There isn’t a set date and this situation is very stressful – sometimes I am afraid to go outside,” Elin told NPR. He provided only his first name for fear of reprisals because his case is still pending.
“My brother’s asylum was approved and he just got his green card. So for me, I think this wait time is harmful because I am still in limbo,” Elin said.
He said he has been in the U.S. since late 2020, has a work permit, pays taxes, and believes he could have a good case to stay. Still, the long delay has become something he has to live through instead of something he can resolve.
“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 [by 2029] could be better,” he said.
The volatile schedule is also reshaping what legal organizations can commit to doing. Jordan Weiner, interim executive director of La Raza Centro Legal, said her nonprofit firm has stopped taking new cases because of unpredictability tied to the paused caseload and the transfer to Concord.
“Even though it’s sort of like a lull, that doesn’t mean we can sign more clients because tomorrow we could get hearing notices for every single client for next week,” Weiner said. “And so we’re not able to take new clients until we know what’s going to be happening with these cases.”
Even as the closure threatens to deepen confusion, resources are also shifting toward Concord. When the Concord Immigration Court opened in 2024, advocates anticipated problems—particularly that the building was not close to public transportation. Courtrooms are on the top floors of a building with other offices, and there is minimal signage and waiting areas.
Nonprofit legal and community organizations responded quickly by creating packets with lawyers’ contact information. volunteer efforts to greet people in the lobby. and a fund to help cover immigrants’ asylum application fees. Now. there is a coalition of about 100 volunteers who wear bright blue vests. hand out the packets. and coordinate with volunteer attorneys.
In San Francisco, advocacy groups are also preparing to handle the shift. Milli Atkinson. director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program at the Bar Association of San Francisco. manages her own 100 volunteer “attorneys of the day.” Her biggest concern is that immigrants—especially those without lawyers—won’t realize they are supposed to go to a different city.
Atkinson said this was an issue during the 2024 transition too. Then, she said, if someone missed a hearing because of confusion over the new location, judges sometimes showed grace.
“Now, she worries that grace won’t be extended this time as the administration looks for ways to issue more orders of deportation for those who miss their hearing,” according to her account.
Atkinson said EOIR is issuing new hearing notices to all parties whose cases are reassigned to a new location. San Francisco attorneys of the day are training in the Concord court while still juggling the two remaining courtrooms at 630 Sansome St.
The closure carries a different kind of weight for lawyers who built their practice around the Montgomery building. Atkinson called it bittersweet—pointing to San Francisco’s long immigration defense history. from landmark litigation and waves of pro bono advocacy to the personal stakes of a moment when people felt safer than before.
“Like Ellis Island, like Angel Island, there’s a history of tragic injustice,” Atkinson said. “But there is also a history of moments of people’s lives being changed and people having. for the first time maybe ever. the sense that they’re they’re going to be safe and that there’s a future and hope for them and their family.”.
Across all of it—court calendars, staffing gaps, and travel routes—the same theme keeps returning: thousands of lives are being asked to adjust to uncertainty, and the change is arriving quickly for people who have already been waiting a long time.
San Francisco immigration court Concord Immigration Court EOIR DOJ asylum Nicaragua Elin 100 Montgomery St. 630 Sansome St. immigration judges backlog