SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — The Trump administration has ordered the closure of the San Francisco Immigration Court, a move that will disrupt more than 120,000 pending immigration cases and deepen delays across California and the West Coast. The decision has alarmed judges, lawyers, and immigrant advocates who warn it will weaken due process and expand the already massive immigration court backlog.
Court employees and judges received a brief email last week announcing that the San Francisco Immigration Court at 100 Montgomery St. will close by the end of the year. Teresa Riley, the chief immigration judge, said all staff will transfer to the Concord Immigration Court, located about 30 miles northeast of San Francisco.
Courtrooms inside the Department of Homeland Security detention facility at 630 Sansome St. will remain open. Still, the loss of the main courthouse will shift thousands of hearings and place new pressure on judges who already face strict case completion targets. An Executive Office for Immigration Review spokesperson said the move will be “more cost-effective.” Many current and former employees said the closure came without warning and raised fears of retaliation for speaking out.
The San Francisco Immigration Court carried 120,935 pending cases as of September, according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse data. Officials plan to transfer those cases to the Concord court over the next year or hear them remotely.
The Concord Immigration Court opened in early 2024 to reduce pressure on San Francisco. It now faces its own staffing losses and a growing backlog. Lawyers say the transfer will delay hearings by years for immigrants across Northern California, Oregon, and the Central Valley. Some cases now carry hearing dates as far away as 2030. Many immigrants have already waited years to present asylum or deportation defenses before a judge.
San Francisco’s court has suffered heavy losses under the Trump administration. Twelve judges and a court supervisor received termination notices last year. Others retired or resigned. The court entered 2026 with only four judges and one supervisor, down from 21 at the start of 2025.
Nationwide, the administration fired nearly 100 immigration judges in 2025, according to NPR’s count. That total includes assistant chief immigration judges who also managed their own dockets. At least 19 had years of experience. Courts across the country now operate with fewer than half the judges they had a year earlier. Two courts, in Aurora, Colorado, and Oakdale, Louisiana, no longer have any judges on staff.
Immigration lawyers say the delays make immigrants more vulnerable to arrest and deportation. Fear of courthouse arrests has already reduced attendance at hearings in some regions.
Jordan Weiner, an immigration lawyer in San Francisco, said all 10 of her cases at the San Francisco court have been postponed due to the judge’s terminations. One client who has lived in the United States for nearly a decade now faces a hearing date in 2027. Weiner expects further delays once cases move to Concord. She called the court closure a “mass delay event” that erodes confidence in the immigration system.
The Justice Department plans to hire new judges each quarter. In November, it launched a recruitment campaign for what it called “deportation judges.” The agency has not said how many applicants it has received. Former judges say the firings targeted those with immigration defense backgrounds. They argue the shift favors outcomes aligned with President Trump’s push for mass deportations.
The administration has also added temporary judges from the military. The Pentagon authorized up to 600 Judge Advocate General lawyers to serve as immigration judges. Court data analyzed by legal groups show these judges issue removal orders at higher rates than civilian judges. One military judge who granted asylum more often than peers has since been removed from the bench. The Justice Department declined to comment.
