Fear, confusion, and hope: Four days in San Francisco's immigration court

On any given weekday, dozens of immigrants from around the world come to a nondescript downtown San Francisco high-rise, where immigration court judges overseeing their cases will ultimately decide whether they can remain in the United States. 

The first month of President Donald Trump's second term in office has been marked by thousands of ICE arrests and his mass deportation plans have many people on edge. 

To get a sense of how the president’s immigration policies were impacting immigrants and the attorneys who represent them, NBC Bay Area recently spent four days attending hearings at San Francisco’s immigration court and speaking to those directly affected. 

People like a single mother from El Salvador seeking asylum here in the United States, who said she came here fleeing domestic violence back home. She made the journey with her 5-year-old daughter while pregnant with her second child.

“It’s something I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” she said in Spanish. “I arrived when I was eight months pregnant. A month after arriving, my boy was born.”

She thought her asylum case, already pending for three years, would be decided soon. But she just found out her next hearing won’t come for another year as the court grapples with a record backlog that has 3.7 million immigrants in a state of legal limbo.

“I think that the clients are very afraid that they can just get picked up by Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE),” said immigration attorney Sylvia Rodezno.

Rodezno said those with pending cases shouldn’t have to worry too much about being detained by ICE unless they have a criminal record or a prior removal order on file — at least in theory.

“You would want to tell [clients] that if you have proceedings pending, the immigration judge is the last to actually order someone removed,” Rodezno said. “But there’s almost this sense of, well, they’re going to do whatever they want.”

The Trump administration has promised to prioritize the “worst first” when it comes to arrests and deportations, but in the last two weeks, ICE has detained 1,800 immigrants without a criminal conviction or pending criminal charges, representing 41% of the 4,422 total new detainees in that period, according to new data obtained by NBC News. 

It’s why many people who spoke to us would only do so if we didn’t reveal their name or show their face, like a woman from Peru who applied for asylum here in 2023.

“My family’s situation and the situation in Peru is really bad because of all the presidential changes,” she said.

She told us her next court appearance isn’t scheduled until 2028.

“I have a work permit and with that I stay and work,” she said. “I’m afraid because some say that even with a work permit, we can be deported.”

Cameras aren’t allowed inside immigration court, but judges let us sit in on most hearings. The only exceptions were for individual asylum cases where the respondent did not want anyone present in the courtroom due to safety or privacy concerns. 

Judges navigated new policies from Washington D.C., spotty internet connections as attorneys or interpreters joined hearings remotely by video, and packed case calendars. They patiently explained the process to respondents sitting in front of them and reminded people not to miss their court appearances because it would likely result in their removal.

In many cases, judges postponed hearings to allow respondents additional time to find legal counsel. But attorneys say many immigrants ultimately navigate their cases alone. Private attorneys are expensive and nonprofits offering pro bono legal services are overwhelmed. 

On Wednesday, the Trump administration cut federal funding to programs that pay for legal representation for immigrant children living in the United States without their parents. That includes organizations such as Legal Services for Children (LSC) in San Francisco, a nonprofit that serves some of the most at risk youth in the Bay Area.

“It’s a lot of young people who are particularly vulnerable, who have been abused, exploited,” said Stephany Arzaga, the associate legal director at LSC.

Judges are overwhelmed, too. It’s common for them to be handling thousands of open cases at any given time. The U.S. Department of Justice just fired more than a dozen immigration judges earlier this month, threatening to exacerbate the court’s backlog even further.

“My case has been going on for a little bit over 10 years,” said a father of two who came here from Mexico City with his family when he was just 6 years old.

Thirty years later, he has U.S.-born children and is applying for permanent residency. 

“Honestly, no fear, you know, it’s in God’s hands,” he said. “But my case is strong, so hopefully they see it through.”

His attorney, George Rios, comes from a family of immigrants himself.

“I know what it’s like to have to fear ICE showing up at your door to possibly pick up one of your parents,” Rios said.

While he strongly opposes Trump’s views on immigration, he concedes the president has significant authority to set the rules.

“The current administration’s interpretation of the immigration law is very strict in that they see anybody who’s here undocumented needs to be removed,” Rios said. “If at any point in time  [the policies] are blatantly illegal, blatantly unconstitutional, like the birthright citizenship stuff, we’re always going to fight it tooth and nail.”

Rios said trying to deport everyone, not just those who pose a threat, could actually slow down the president’s deportation agenda.

“If you’re not flooding the immigration court with everybody, then the judges have more time and are able to move through those cases faster.”

It’s a message the mother from El Salvador hopes the president hears.

“It’s the only thing I ask for, to stay and for my children to grow here and earn a master’s degree,” she said. “That they become good people. That they never know what it’s like to go days without eating.”