{"id":46664,"date":"2026-02-13T11:51:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46664"},"modified":"2026-02-13T11:51:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:51:05","slug":"inside-san-franciscos-hollowed-out-immigration-court-where-asylum-is-essentially-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/13\/inside-san-franciscos-hollowed-out-immigration-court-where-asylum-is-essentially-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside San Francisco\u2019s hollowed-out immigration court, where asylum is \u2018essentially over\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A by\u00a0Clara-Sophia Daly<\/a><\/strong> February 12, 2026 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Protesters and immigrants form a line outside of 630 Sansome St. immigration court in San Francisco. Photo by Sage Rios Mace.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Outside the San Francisco immigration court building at 630 Sansome St.<\/a>, a long line of people carrying manila folders stuffed with documents waited nervously for their check-in appointments last Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those waiting outside were in line for their mandatory check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, appointments that allow federal officials to track the whereabouts and status of those in the immigration system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside, a separate group of people wait to appear before a judge and argue their case to stay in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mission<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter<\/strong> below.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asylum-seekers often wait years before getting inside for their day in court. But today, those court appearances only put them closer to deportation, with little chance<\/a> of staying in the country.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAsylum is essentially over,\u201d said Jesus Ibanez, an immigration attorney representing a client at the Sansome courthouse<\/a> on Thursday. Instead, Department of Homeland Security attorneys rapidly close out cases, which attorneys say is a way to encourage asylum-seekers to self-deport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"People
Immigrants stand in line outside of the 630 Sansome St. immigration courthouse and a sign reads, \u201cProtect Our Neighbors, Keep Families Together.\u201d Photo by Sage Rios Mace.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco\u2019s ever-shrinking court<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At the Sansome Street courthouse, a single courtroom handles what are called \u201cmaster-calendar hearings,\u201d the first step in the process, where judges hear multiple cases at once for scheduling.  Those take place on Thursdays and Fridays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"USF<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The other three days of the week, the courtrooms are deserted: 17 of the 21 judges<\/a> assigned to San Francisco\u2019s two immigration courts a year ago have been fired<\/a> since June 2025<\/a>, and the court\u2019s capacity to hear cases has drastically decreased<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But last Thursday, Judge Frank A. Seminerio, appointed in 2021, sat on the bench, moving through 33 cases. He now splits his time between the city\u2019s two immigration courts, and <\/strong>later in the day went to the courtrooms at 100 Montgomery St.<\/a>, where he would handle another load of cases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in no case is there an actual asylum hearing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He once heard full cases and made decisions. Nowadays, cases are pushed through a process known as \u201cpretermit\u201d where federal attorneys ask the court to effectively deny an asylum-seeker their hearing, and instead give them the option to go to a third country and seek asylum there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump attorneys have been seeking<\/a> removals to Honduras, Ecuador, Uganda and other countries, even when immigrants have never been there<\/a> before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This process \u201cdenies asylum-seekers a full evidentiary hearing,\u201d explained Jeremiah Johnson, a fired immigration judge who used to work in the city\u2019s courts. Instead, it means immigrants must appear at another hearing to prove they cannot be removed to a safe third country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a high burden for asylum-seekers to show that they cannot safely go to a third country, or sometimes two, if the federal government offers more than one alternative. If the case is denied, the asylum seeker is \u201cordered removed\u201d and the case is closed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But these countries limit<\/a> the number of people they accept \u2014 in some cases, as few as 240 in a two-year period. Federal attorneys know those countries will not accept the thousands they are seeking to send there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The effect of their motions is, instead, to put asylum-seekers in limbo awaiting court, or push them to self-deport, according to immigration attorneys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco has had motions to pretermit in at least 737 different cases, when you combine all of 2025 and January 2026. There have been more than 100 third-country removal orders given in San Francisco immigration court, to Honduras, Ecuador, and Guatemala, according to Joseph Gunther and Brandon Marrow, researchers who are studying this across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Protesters chant as they walk around the perimeter of 630 Sansome immigration court on Oct. 24, 2025. Asylum-seekers took photos and videos as they waited in line for their immigration hearings. Photo by Mariana Garcia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Proving persecution in two, sometimes three countries<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Last Thursday, three asylum-seekers were brought to the front of the courtroom and given headphones for simultaneous translation. They were not working, but they informed the translator they could hear fine without the headphones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In each case, a \u201cmotion to pretermit\u201d was filed by the Department of Homeland Security, and the department offered immigrants the chance to go to Ecuador or Honduras, where the United States has cooperative agreements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The respondents, two from Guatemala and the third from Colombia, will now have to show they have suffered persecution not only in their home country, but also<\/em> in this third country. They were told to send in their evidence a week before their court dates, which were set a few months in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One respondent raised his hand and asked the judge if he could have more time to gather the evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is very hard to get ahold of an attorney and how much they charge,\u201d the man, originally from Colombia, said through the court translator. Lawyers are hard to come by, and scammers<\/a> target desperate immigrants, offering fraudulent<\/a> services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seminerio denied the request. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Milli Atkinson<\/a>, director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program at the San Francisco Bar Association, is trying to educate clients about \u201cpretermits,\u201d and encouraging them to appeal the eventual order of removal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe goal for us is to preserve these issues for appeal,\u201d said Atkinson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even filing an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals has become more difficult. It is harder to get a fee waiver, and the cost is now roughly $1,030. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Board of Immigration Appeals has also announced that it may soon curtail the time period for filing an appeal from 30 days down to 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One attorney told Mission Local<\/em> that these changes have made his own practice economically unfeasible, because he has to charge his clients exorbitant rates to make any money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover,  the chances of them winning the case are next to zero. He is considering leaving immigration law completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is just a big clogging up the system for years of people not having any way to move forward on their immigration case,\u201d said Atkinson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of this, many immigrants are making the decision to return to their home country because they do not want to risk being ordered to a third country. Others are sticking it out, and fighting their case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Mission Local is only using first names of non-citizens to protect their identity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Latest on Immigration enforcement<\/mark><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Her<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Her partner deported, S.F. mother of four copes with fear and loss in a sanctuary city <\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"S.F.<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

S.F. activists axe Zuckerberg name from General Hospital in favor of ICE victims<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Photos:<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Photos: S.F. protesters spell out \u2018Abolish ICE\u2019 in human banner on Ocean Beach<\/a><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Clara-Sophia Daly<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

clarasophia@missionlocal.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clara-Sophia Daly is an award-winning journalist who covers immigration for Mission Local. Previously, she reported for the Miami Herald, where she covered education and worked on the investigative team. She graduated with honors from Skidmore College, where she studied International Affairs and Media\/Film, and later earned a master\u2019s degree from Columbia Journalism School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her reporting portfolio includes investigations into a gymnastics coach who abused his students for more than a decade \u2014 work that led to his arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also covered the privatization of Florida\u2019s public education system, state-funded anti-abortion pregnancy centers, and the deputization of university police officers under federal immigration programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Northern California native, she first joined Mission Local as an intern for a year during the pandemic \u2014 and is excited to be back writing stories about immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Got a tip? Email her at clarasophia@missionlocal.comMore by Clara-Sophia Daly<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Clara-Sophia Daly February 12, 2026 (MissionLocal.org) Outside the San Francisco immigration court building at 630 Sansome St., a long line of people carrying manila folders stuffed with documents waited nervously for their check-in appointments last Thursday. Those waiting outside were in line for their mandatory check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement,… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46664"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46665,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46664\/revisions\/46665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}