A California court will start conducting mass hearings on immigration cases particularly those that resulted from Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy.
Since the implementation of the policy in May, the number of immigration cases surged in the Southern District Court of California. Under the policy, the federal government will prosecute all individuals who enters the country illegally.
The clerk’s office in the Southern District Court of California told the Associated Press (AP) that there were no illegal-entry cases filed in February. In March, there were only four and 16 in April. The number of illegal-entry cases suddenly increased to 513 in May and 821 in June.
On a Friday in May, U.S. Magistrate Judge Nita Stormes told AP that she had “a long week.” She also suggested that the court needed more judges and public defenders given the surge of immigration cases.
On Monday, the court will try to reduce the caseload by assigning a judge to handle misdemeanor immigration cases and conduct mass hearings. Critics called the move an assembly-line justice.
Mass hearings on immigration cases started in Texas a decade ago
The practice of mass hearings is not new. It started in Del Rio, Texas in December 2007 when the Border Patrol introduced the “Operation Streamline” to prosecute every illegal entry. Over the next three years, every federal court districts along the border except California, adopted mass hearings.
