(CONCORD, CALIFORNIA) – The Department of Justice and the Executive Office for Immigration Review have rolled out mass hearings at Concord Immigration Court, consolidating 100 or more cases into a single courtroom slot as officials push to shrink a record 3.7 million-case backlog.

The change has turned Concord into a focal point for deportation fears in Northern California after the San Francisco Immigration Court closed and transferred roughly 120,000 cases to Concord, which already carried a 60,000-case docket. That left the court handling nearly 180,000 cases.

Under the new format, often called Mega Master Calendar Hearings, judges call large groups of mostly unrepresented immigrants into one session to move cases quickly toward pleadings, final hearings or removal orders when a person does not appear. Hearings once set for 2027, 2028 or 2029 are being pulled forward into 2026, raising the risk of automatic in absentia removal orders for people who miss short-notice dates.

EOIR Director Daren K. Margolin framed the effort as a backlog reduction measure in remarks on April 8, 2026, during the investiture of 15 new immigration judges. “EOIR remains committed to reducing the immigration court backlog and unwinding the policies of the Biden Administration that included a de facto open border and amnesty. These new highly qualified immigration judges have sworn to decide the cases before them based on the law,” Margolin said.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in May 2026 that the administration is “committed to restoring the rule of law” in the immigration system through aggressive adjudication and clearing the backlog. His comments matched a broader enforcement posture that has linked faster court processing with a sharper push on removals.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin signaled that direction during his confirmation hearing on March 18, 2026, indicating a continued crackdown on immigration while also signaling a shift toward working with “sanctuary city” leaders. He has since threatened to halt international traveler processing in jurisdictions that resist ICE enforcement.

Gene Hamilton, identified as a key adviser to the administration’s policies, used even starker language in June 2026. “If you’re a serious government, if you’re a serious nation, one of your foremost duties is to protect the citizenry and protect the meaning and the value of citizenship,” Hamilton said.

Concord’s expanded role followed the abrupt closure of the San Francisco court, which had been one of the Bay Area’s main venues for removal and asylum proceedings. The transfer concentrated a large regional caseload in a suburban court farther from many respondents, while the national backlog kept rising.

At the same time, the immigration bench has gone through rapid turnover. Over the past 15 months, the administration has fired or forced out about 125 immigration judges nationwide, including 13 from the San Francisco court, even as EOIR moved to add new judges.

On May 21, 2026, EOIR announced the swearing-in of 77 new immigration judges and 5 temporary military lawyers, the largest class in the agency’s history. The hiring push has unfolded alongside the court’s move toward mass hearings, with officials pairing more personnel with faster scheduling.

Asylum outcomes have also tightened. Grant rates have fallen to roughly 10% in 2026, down from the previous average of 42%, according to the figures cited in the administration’s current immigration court debate.

The mechanics of the mass hearings fall hardest on pro se respondents, the legal term for people without lawyers. Packing more than 100 people into one session lets judges and court staff issue instructions quickly, but it also compresses the time available for people to understand charges, ask for counsel or prepare filings before the next hearing date arrives.

Immigration lawyers have raised due process concerns, arguing that the Mega Master format leaves unrepresented immigrants with little room to understand their rights or find legal help before their cases move ahead. Those concerns have grown as hearing dates shift with little notice and missed appearances can trigger immediate removal orders.

Travel has become another pressure point. Bay Area immigrants who once traveled to San Francisco now face longer trips to Concord, often by public transit, for hearings that can last around 10 minutes.

That burden lands unevenly on families already balancing work schedules, child care and language barriers. A short hearing still can require hours of commuting, and any late arrival carries higher stakes when a case has been accelerated from a later calendar year into 2026.

Fear around the courthouse has deepened those pressures. Reports from June 2025 and early 2026 confirmed ICE arrests inside and around the Concord Immigration Court building, fueling concern among immigrants that showing up for a required hearing may lead to detention regardless of what happens in the courtroom.

Detention capacity has expanded in parallel with the court changes. ICE is detaining more than 70,000 individuals and has said it plans to raise capacity to 100,000 to support the administration’s deportation agenda.

DHS is also developing a separate rule that would allow USCIS to reject some asylum applications on the paper record if they appear to miss the one-year filing deadline. That would bypass the traditional interview process and send people directly into immigration court, adding another stream of cases to a system already under strain.

Officials have presented those measures as part of one enforcement structure: faster screening, tighter scheduling, a larger detention system and a court calendar built to process more people in less time. In Concord, that structure has taken concrete form in mass hearings that pull dozens upon dozens of immigrants into one room at once.

Public information about the court’s operations appears on the EOIR Concord Immigration Court page, while agency announcements on judges and court policy appear in EOIR notices and press releases. DHS posts department statements in its newsroom, and ICE publishes detention and removal data through Enforcement and Removal Operations.

At Concord Immigration Court, the result is a docket swollen by the San Francisco transfer, hearings compressed into mass calendars and a courthouse atmosphere shaped by deportation fears. People whose cases once sat years away now face dates in 2026, a room filled with more than 100 respondents, and the risk that one missed appearance can end with an in absentia removal order.