Closure of San Francisco immigration court puts additional strain on Northern California immigration court system – cbsnews.com

Closure of San Francisco immigration court puts additional strain on Northern California immigration court system  cbsnews.com

The recent closure of an immigration court in San Francisco is adding to the strain on the Northern California immigration court system and on immigrants trying to navigate it.Most of the cases that were being handled at the 100 Montgomery Street building in the city's Financial District are being moved about 30 miles east to the Concord Immigration Court.Jeremiah Johnson used to be a federal immigration judge until he was among among a group of San Francisco immigration judges fired as part of a nationwide purge by the Trump administration. Since 2025, the Trump administration has fired, retired, or forced out more than 200 immigration judges amid a backlog of 3.3 million cases."I had served for eight years in San Francisco and learned that this past November I was fired with no cause given and it was through an email," Johnson said.

Johnson still hasn't found a new job, but more than that, he says he's worried about the reasons behind the court's closure."I think by firing judges, you reduce the number of people that can hear these cases. You're sending a chilling effect to others," Johnson said. "And in essence, you are basically saying, 'No more hearings, we're not going to have a full and fair hearing.'""Now we're getting cases set for 2029, even 2030," immigration attorney Ghassan Shamieh