"People who've been waiting for years to have their asylum case adjudicated are now going to wait even more. Atkinson said she is already seeing cases that were on the calendar for this year being pushed to 2028 and 2029."
"At the start of last year, San Francisco's two immigration courts had 21 judges. By mid-March there will just be two left. In all, 19 judges have left the two downtown immigration courthouses - 12 of them were fired, and the rest retired, asked for a transfer, or were appointed to another court."
"This comes as at least 120,000 immigrants have pending cases waiting to be heard at the San Francisco courts, further clogging an already overburdened system and making it difficult for immigrants to have their day in court."
San Francisco's two immigration courts experienced a dramatic staffing collapse, declining from 21 judges to just two by mid-March. Twelve judges were fired, while others retired, transferred, or were appointed elsewhere. Karen Schulz moved to Santa Clara County Superior Court, and Michelle Slayton transferred to Portland Immigration Court. This exodus coincides with at least 120,000 pending immigrant cases awaiting adjudication. The reduced judicial capacity has created severe backlogs, with asylum cases being postponed years into the future. Legal advocates report cases originally scheduled for 2024 now pushed to 2028-2029. The staffing crisis exacerbates an already overburdened immigration court system, preventing immigrants from timely access to legal proceedings.
#immigration-courts #judicial-staffing-crisis #asylum-case-backlog #san-francisco-immigration-system
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