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

Master Calendar hearing. Bond hearings are of great importance to an immigrant.
Release on bond can mean the difference between having one’s freedom and being able
to prepare a defense, and trying to stave off removal from detention, spending months,
even years in a jail cell, at a significant distance from family and counsel. Second, judges
often make rulings at Master Calendar hearings that dispose of a case, including rulings
on complex legal issues regarding inadmissibility or deportability, or findings that an
immigrant is ineligible for any relief before the Court. Moreover, it is not uncommon for
Immigration Judges to make factual findings at Master Calendar hearings, even though
there is no authority for treating Master Calendar hearings as evidentiary hearings.
Immigration Judges can – and do – enter final orders of removal at Master Calendar
hearings.
Videoconference Hearings in the Chicago Immigration Court
The Chicago videoconference court does not look like other courtrooms. Located
on the nineteenth floor of an office tower, the courtroom looks nothing like the stark and
formal chambers of the nearby Dirksen Building (federal court) or the Daley Center (state
court). The judge’s “bench” is really just a table. The attorney for the government (the
“trial attorney”) and the attorney for the immigrant sit facing each other at tables adjacent
to the bench, within reach of the television. The Chicago videoconference court has a
copy machine, printer, and ample office supplies. A fax machine did not exist in the
Chicago courtroom or at the remote site during the time we observed hearings.
A Spanish-speaking interpreter sometimes sits at the immigrant attorney’s table,
translating exactly what the judge tells him or her to translate and nothing more. The
interpreter often serves as a de facto clerk of the Immigration Court, passing files to the
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