North Texas immigration lawyers say there is a confusing problem, with the potential to create additional backlogs in an already overwhelmed system. Undocumented immigrants are being summoned to court when the building isn't open or when the court is not expecting them.
Dallas-based immigration attorney George Rodriguez said at least 10 clients, spread out among the three lawyers at his firm, have been affected by the so-called "dummy" court dates.
Rodriguez showed NBC 5 a recent "Notice to Appear" given to a client. The client was ordered to the Dallas Immigration Court on Aug. 27, at 12 a.m.
"At midnight, the federal building has its lights off, the doors are locked, there's nobody there," Rodriguez said.
He said other clients have received notice to come to court at noon, when it's closed for lunch.
"We're talking about an initial setting, the first time you show up to court. Folks may show up and think this is a scam, maybe there is a mistake, maybe I'm really not in deportation proceedings," Rodriguez said. "So a lot of these folks may not go back."
Last Thursday, immigration attorney Daniel Stewart said he showed up to court with two clients who were detained in the same raid on Aug. 28. He said around 40 others arrived for the 8:30 a.m. setting that was listed on their Notices to Appear. Stewart said they were not on the docket.
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One of his clients, who was still detained, was able to see a judge via video conference. A second client was told the court would later reschedule.
A clerk at the Dallas Immigration Court said no one on-site could answer questions from journalists. The regional public information officer for the U.S. Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, which administers immigration court proceedings, referred NBC 5 to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for any questions.
NBC 5 reached out to ICE for information Monday. Several automatic reply emails from ICE public affairs indicated the whole team was out of the office for training the week of Sept. 17. However, on Tuesday, ICE issued the following reply, referring us back to the EOIR:
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice, is responsible for administering the immigration courts. EOIR is responsible for setting and re-setting appearance dates upon receipt of a Notice to Appear filed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements and other components of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Please contact EOIR for further questions regarding this subject and the alleged comments from its staff.
Immigration lawyers NBC 5 spoke with believe the confusion stems from a U.S. Supreme Court decision over the summer that now requires Notices to Appear include a date and time. Previously, the notices could simply say "to be set."
"I think what they decided to do, just to remedy the situation quickly because they're so backlogged, is they've just started putting random times and random dates," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said he tells many clients to show up for the "dummy" dates, just in case. He said he works with the court to reschedule hearings, but warns this is shaping up to be a chronic problem in a system that's already heavily backlogged and burdened.
