What a day in immigration court is like now
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.1 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 25 August 2025
⏱️ 14 minutes
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Summary
The process is often chaotic. And for immigrants without legal status, it's also very risky.
NPR immigration policy reporter Ximena Bustillo went to an immigration court in New York City to see how that process unfolds – and found herself experiencing some of the chaos firsthand.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's a recent morning in Lower Manhattan, and Teddy Ogborne, along with a group of volunteers, |
| 0:05.3 | are trying to get people a moment of peace before they head into the building at 26 Federal Plaza. |
| 0:11.3 | We're offering like a space in the park with mutual aid and like spots to just like sit and have a coffee and chat and take a breather because it's really stressful and traumatic what can happen in there. |
| 0:19.6 | The building houses immigration courts and some of the people heading inside will stand before |
| 0:25.1 | a judge and learn whether or not they are permitted to stay in the U.S. |
| 0:30.0 | As Ogborn and the volunteers give out coffee, they're also collecting contact information. |
| 0:35.0 | They want to provide, you know, any information with us so that we can |
| 0:39.1 | like check in where they're at with the system to know whether they've been detained or |
| 0:42.7 | basically disappeared inside so that we can get in touch like an emergency contact. |
| 0:46.9 | Disappeared. That's exactly how some immigration advocates describe what happens inside |
| 0:52.7 | this building. Because the Trump administration is deploying a new |
| 0:56.3 | strategy to speed up deportations. Government lawyers are asking immigration judges to dismiss ongoing |
| 1:02.8 | cases. But then immigration and customs enforcement agents are arresting people as soon as they |
| 1:08.4 | step out of the courtroom and putting them in a new expedited |
| 1:12.0 | removal process. These are not people who have been accused of any crime. That is New York City |
| 1:19.3 | controller Brad Lander, who's one of many Democrats criticizing this practice. These are people |
| 1:24.3 | who are complying with the law by coming to court. So it is an abominable |
| 1:29.5 | waste of resources. In a legal brief opposing the arrests, the city put it this way. Quote, |
| 1:34.6 | our judicial system cannot work as it should, as it must, if courthouses are used as traps. |
| 1:42.7 | The Trump administration argues that courthouse arrests are |
| 1:46.1 | common sense. They conserve law enforcement resources because officers don't have to go looking for a |
| 1:52.2 | target. And they're safer because the immigrants will have gone through court security and will |
... |
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