Lawmakers Want Chaotic ‘Mega Master’ Hearings at Chicago’s Immigration Court to End

Illinois’ Democratic congressional delegation is calling for the end of so-called “mega master” hearings that have packed immigration courts with chaos and led to record numbers of immigrants missing court and becoming targets for deportation.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi denounced the hearings as the “latest effort to weaponize the immigration courts to facilitate mass removals” at the expense of due process, in a five-page letter sent Tuesday to U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche. The lawmakers repeatedly cited recent Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ reporting in the letter, which was signed by 15 of the 16 Illinois Democratic members of Congress.

At Chicago’s Downtown immigration court, Sun-Times and WBEZ reporters documented daily schedules with as many as 185 cases per judge, tiny courtrooms holding dozens more people than they were designed for, and drastically shrinking notice time for immigrants to appear before a judge — with or without a lawyer.

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The lawmakers also asked for explanations for the reductions in notice time to appear in court and for guarantees of adequate personnel to handle the steep rise in cases.

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In federal immigration court, “master hearings” are procedural hearings meant to inform non-citizens of their rights and responsibilities as they seek to prove why they should be allowed to stay in the United States.

But in late May, the usual groupings of 30 to 40 immigrants on a judge’s morning calendar ballooned upward of 100. WBEZ and the Sun-Times showed that in June, for the first time since 2019, more immigrants missed court than appeared in the Downtown Chicago courthouse, resulting in record orders for their removal in their absence.

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