Durbin Urges GAO To Investigate The Trump Administration’s Decision To Establish New, Hidden Immigration Courts

October 21, 2026 Durbin Urges GAO To Investigate The Trump Administration’s Decision To Establish New, Hidden Immigration Courts WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) urging them to investigate the Trump Administration’s decision to rapidly establish new, hidden immigration courts. In the Homeland Security Act , Congress preserved the separation of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immigration enforcement functions from immigration courts’ adjudicatory role. Yet the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) is establishing new courts in DHS facilities where they are managed by DHS personnel. “DOJ regulations require that members of the public, including family members and loved ones, have access to immigration courts—but my staff documented DHS officials, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel, regularly prohibiting public access to immigration courtrooms at DHS facilities. Worse still, the Administration has established new court locations—where judges are appearing virtually—without providing formal notice to the public and in apparent violation of regulations and policies intended to ensure transparency and due process in immigration court proceedings,” Durbin wrote. Immigrants are expected to appear for their immigration court hearings unless a judge has waived their appearance, or they may be ordered removed in absentia. In the letter to GAO, Durbin noted that these new courtrooms seem deliberately designed to increase the number of missed hearings to accelerate removals. For example, EOIR does not make these locations publicly available, despite EOIR policy stating a complete list of immigration courts is available on its website. In the letter, Durbin also noted that EOIR appears to be targeting individuals who do not have legal representation. The Administration’s unprecedented decision to open courts in DHS buildings worsens these due process concerns, given that DHS is the party seeking the removal of immigrants in immigration court proceedings, serving as the prosecutor in these matters. According to recent reports, over the summer, the White House directed DHS to find space for additional courts, and DHS components such as ICE, FEMA, the Coast Guard, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services volunteered. Durbin wrote, “My staff have observed that these new courtrooms are not just housed within DHS facilities, but DHS is controlling access to the facilities. Immigration court proceedings are open to the public with few exceptions, yet DHS personnel—not EOIR personnel—barred my staff from entering the court in the FEMA building on three separate occasions. During these attempted visits, my staff observed that the doors to the courtroom were locked, and the courtroom lacked any signage, a violation of EOIR policy. During one of the visits, a person who identified herself as a DHS contractor stated that my staff would have to contact FEMA personnel and DHS to gain access because the courtroom was located in a ‘secure’ federal building and was ‘not open to the public.’” Durbin continued, “My staff also observed DHS agents and contractors prevent the family of unrepresented respondents from entering the courtroom. There was no evidence EOIR personnel were physically present at the court in the FEMA building, and no DHS personnel or contractors would acknowledge that EOIR, not DHS, oversaw immigration court operations. The placement of courts within DHS buildings seems to have no other purpose than to intimidate unrepresented respondents and increase the likelihood that individuals will fail to appear at hearings and be ordered removed in absentia.” GAO previously has reported that problems with notices, changes in hearing dates, lack of understanding of court processes, and confusion regarding the differences between immigration courts and DHS can affect respondents’ ability to appear for hearings and lead to in absentia removal orders, even when respondents intended to participate in their proceedings. The new courts raise many of these issues, in addition to unprecedented concerns regarding DHS’s direct participation in running our immigration court system. In the letter, Durbin requested GAO address a number of questions about these new, hidden immigration courts. Durbin concluded, “It is vital to understand the threats to due process and judicial independence posed by this Administration’s restructuring of the immigration court system. Although Congress separated immigration enforcement functions from the immigration courts, DHS-managed immigration courts should end any illusion that courts are operating independently of this Administration’s mass deportation machine.” Full text of the letter is available here . -30- Print Email Share Tweet