San Francisco’s main federal immigration court closed May 1, leaving no pending rulings or lawyers arguing cases at the city’s courthouse, according to the Associated Press. The shutdown followed a staffing collapse in which the court had 21 judges when President Donald Trump was sworn in last year, but only two remained when the court closed, the report said.
The Associated Press described the closure as part of broader upheaval in the immigration court system as the administration seeks ways to reduce a large backlog of asylum cases. The report said asylum denial rates have risen as the administration has fired nearly 100 immigration judges viewed as too liberal and replaced them with other judges backed by hundreds of military lawyers.
In San Francisco, the consequences were immediate and local: the city became the first major place to be left without a primary immigration court for asylum cases, according to court insiders quoted by the Associated Press. The remaining judges were set to work from another federal building in San Francisco but would be part of an immigration court across the bay in Concord, the report said.
The Associated Press said most of the roughly 117,000 San Francisco immigration cases were moved to Concord, a city about 30 miles away that opened two years ago to help with the backlog. It also said turmoil reached Concord itself, where a courthouse that started 2025 with 11 judges was down to five after additional firings, and where the caseload was reported as about 60,000 even before the San Francisco cases were shifted.
The report said San Francisco’s court had long been considered more favorable to people seeking asylum. It cited Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse data showing that from 2019 to 2024, almost 75% of petitioners received some form of relief in San Francisco compared with 43% nationwide, and it attributed part of that to the city’s network of pro-immigrant organizations and pro bono or low-cost legal services.
In March, the Associated Press said the Executive Office for Immigration Review announced it would close the San Francisco courthouse in 2027 as a cost-saving measure and move the cases to Concord, but the end came early after “nearly all” San Francisco judges left or were fired. The Executive Office, the report said, provided no detailed explanation beyond saying it decided not to renew its lease and would not comment on personnel changes.
At the Concord courthouse, the Associated Press reported tight security, including guards who ask whether people are carrying weapons or explosives, require phones to be turned off, and restrict what is allowed inside the building. The report also said Judah Lakin, an immigration attorney based in Oakland who teaches at UC Berkeley School of Law, told reporters that the closure has made cases more time consuming because clients often travel hours to reach Concord on public transportation. He said one 10-minute hearing took him more than two hours to travel to, and he linked the strain to a wider climate in immigration courts marked by frequent disruptions.
Lakin also said the churn has created a “fraught” atmosphere in which last-minute hearing cancellations and resets occur with little notice, and where arrests can happen when people arrive for scheduled appearances. He cited an example in which, according to the report, one of his clients was provisionally granted asylum by a judge who was later fired before signing the decision, then transferred to a second judge who also was fired—leaving the case still pending with a third judge.
“It was a vibrant legal scene and so I think if you were looking to target a court you would have to look at what San Francisco stands for,” Jeremiah Johnson said, referring to the city’s reputation and his own experience before he was fired in November. Johnson, the Associated Press reported, said he believed he was targeted because he granted asylum in 89% of the cases he heard, and he argued that judges are not fired for how they handle individual cases because parties can appeal decisions.
The Associated Press also quoted former judge Dana Leigh Marks, who retired in 2021 after 35 years on the bench. Marks described the closure as “heartbreaking,” and she said she viewed the Trump administration’s decision to close the largest immigration court in Northern California as part of an effort to undermine due process and “eventually dismantle the path to asylum.”
Nidaa Pervaiz, an immigration attorney who appeared in Concord representing a client from Nepal, told the Associated Press that fewer judges translate into fewer hearings and more delays, and she said paperwork can expire before cases reach a judge. She said, as reported, “Theirs whole lives are at stake, and they are coming to make a plea for their future.”