Videoconferencing in Removal Hearings: A Case Study of the ...

Where immigrants are entitled to a hearing before an immigration judge, removal
proceedings are commenced by the service of a charging document, called a “Notice to
Appear” (NTA). 39 Following service with this document, the immigrant is summoned to
appear at a preliminary hearing, called a “Master Calendar” hearing. In spite of the
complexity of immigration law, there is no right to counsel paid for by the government in
immigration proceedings, and many immigrants are unrepresented. After one or more
Master Calendar hearings, an immigrant may (if eligible for some relief) be scheduled for
an “Individual Calendar,” or merits hearing, which is a final evidentiary hearing.
Detained immigrants within the
jurisdiction of the Chicago court often do not
receive advance written notice of their first
Master Calendar hearing. The Chicago
Immigration Court does not send notice
23
The Chicago Immigration Court does
not send notice directly to the
immigrant at his or her place of
detention. . . . As a result, immigrants
receive insufficient advance notice of
the hearing, and no notice that their
hearing will take place through
videoconferencing.
directly to the immigrant at his or her place of detention, but to the Chicago ICE office,
which ICE lists as the immigrant’s address for all detained NTAs filed with the
Immigration Court. ICE asserts that it provides this notice to detained immigrants on the
morning of their first court appearance, when they are awakened as early as 3:00 a.m. to
be transported to the remote videoconferencing hearing room in Broadview, a Chicago
suburb. 40 As a result, immigrants receive insufficient advance notice of the hearing, and
no notice that their hearing will take place through videoconferencing.
39 8 U.S.C. § 1229 (initiation of removal proceedings).
40 It may seem odd for ICE to transport detainees hundreds of miles only to stop a few miles outside
Chicago. It is our understanding that ICE prefers not to bring detainees these last few miles because traffic
can be congested during rush hour, when detainees are transported to and from downtown Chicago.