The Department of Justice shut down the main immigration court in San Francisco last week, eliminating one of the busiest immigration courts in the country that processed thousands of cases annually. The closure removes a court that historically granted asylum applications at one of the highest rates in the nation.
The courthouse on 100 Montgomery Street will cease operations, with a smaller San Francisco facility remaining open. Most court operations will relocate to an immigration court 35 miles away in Concord in the East Bay. The justice department's executive office for immigration review described the closure as "cost effective" in a statement.
The shutdown follows a pattern of significant changes to the immigration court system. Over the past year, the Department of Justice fired 20 of the court's 22 judges. The Trump administration has faced accusations of removing immigration judges in favor of those more aligned with its mass deportation agenda. Similarly, six judges were recently removed from the Concord court, which opened in 2024 as part of an earlier effort to address the growing immigration case backlog.
The San Francisco court's high asylum grant rate had made it a preferred venue for immigrants and their attorneys. The closure will redirect cases to other courts in the region, raising concerns about capacity and delays. As of September 2025, there are 3.75 million pending immigration cases nationwide, according to the executive office for immigration review. In San Francisco alone, there are 120,000 pending cases.
Legal experts question whether the Concord court can handle the inherited caseload. "With so few judges at the Concord court, we're going to see a lot of people waiting years and years and years to have their cases heard," said Milli Atkinson, director of the San Francisco Bar Association's immigrant legal defense program.
Extended delays create practical problems for asylum seekers. Former immigration judge Shira Levine, now deputy legal director for the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, explained that delays weaken case presentations. "Presenting a lot of oral testimony from themselves and from witnesses," she said. "Over years, testimonial memories can fade."
The court closure and judge removals have created additional complications. Court dates are being rescheduled, and notices are causing confusion among immigrants who may have unstable addresses or limited English proficiency. Missing hearings can trigger Immigration and Customs Enforcement attention.
Atkinson expressed concern that vulnerable people will fall through the system. "If someone gets the wrong date, gets the wrong time, gets the wrong place, doesn't file something exactly correct, the consequences are in some cases where they really do have a serious fear of return, life-threatening."
The closure represents a significant shift in how the immigration court system operates, affecting immigrants throughout the Bay Area seeking legal relief from deportation.