Arizona congressman demands answers on unmarked ‘pop-up’ immigration courts

Democratic U.S. Congressman Greg Stanton learned that the Department of Homeland Security was using a Federal Emergency Management Agency building as an immigration court, but when he went to inspect it, he was met with roadblocks. 

“No. 1, there is no signage indicating this is an immigration court room,” Stanton told the Arizona Mirror in a phone interview, adding that the door was blocked by two “ICE guards” who refused to let him in. 

After three hours of phone calls and waiting, Stanton was finally let in to view the court and its proceedings, but not much was happening once he finally got inside. 

“I was pretty pissed off about taking 2 to 3 hours to be allowed in there, and the fact that they wouldn’t allow professional staff, so I went back the next day when they had court scheduled,” Stanton said. 

After being denied access and seeing the court, Stanton and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, are demanding answers. 

The court, set up in an office building owned by FEMA in Washington, D.C., is one of several new “pop-up” immigration courts that have been found in places like New York, Texas, California, Colorado, Illinois and Florida, according to reporting by Bloomberg.  

Immigration courts are generally open to the public without prior notices and Stanton said that being blocked from observing is a violation of the United States’ Constitution. It is unclear if one of these courts currently exists in Arizona, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review would not answer the Mirror’s questions. 

Instead, an unnamed Department of Justice spokesperson attacked the administration of former President Joe Biden for allowing “millions of unvetted migrants into our communities” and claimed that they are “restoring integrity to our immigration system by hearing cases fairly, expeditiously, and uniformly, in accordance with the law.” 

The unnamed spokesperson for the DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration review, or EOIR, confirmed that they are “opening new hearing locations as needed” but would not elaborate further on where those locations are. 

And not knowing where the courts are and the lack of information around them is a major concern of Stanton’s when it comes to ensuring that immigrants who go through them are getting proper due process. 

“I’m a member of Congress and I know where the FEMA office is, I can walk down there from the Capitol,” Stanton said. “But if you’re a regular citizen and you get a last minute change in your court from a traditional immigration court room to a nondescript unmarked office building, you may miss your court date. And, in fact, all the people that were supposed to check in, none of them were there when they were supposed to be there.” 

Immigration attorneys have warned that these new “pop-up” courts have the potential to confuse those who are seeking to show up but then ultimately cannot find the court, denying them the right to due process. 

“If they don’t show up for a court date, it can cause an order of removal,” Stanton said. 

Stanton and Raskin sent a letter in September to DHS, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and DOJ asking for a briefing about the courtrooms and answers to some questions they have. Stanton told the Mirror he has not gotten a response. 

Stanton, who oversees FEMA on the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, said that while it is concerning that FEMA resources are being used for immigration related issues, his bigger concern is with the constitutionality of limiting public access and due process. 

“It doesn’t matter if it is FEMA or not, what matters is that the American people have access to the American judicial system,” Stanton said. 

FEMA, which operates under DHS, was an early target of President Donald Trump’s administration in its second term. Trump has tried to close it. That hasn’t happened, but Republicans and Trump did make significant cuts to its budget. 

Those cuts, coupled with the court at the Washington, D.C., FEMA office has Stanton worried about how the agency is operating amidst a slew of powerful storms currently hitting the United States. 

“You’re telling me that FEMA, the agency that responds to natural disasters as we are entering hurricane season — and you’ve seen just recently hurricanes bearing down on the United States of America — that, somehow, they have plenty of open space?” Stanton said. “We need to be fully supporting FEMA so they can save American lives in times of national emergency.” 

While Stanton has visited the “pop-up” court twice now, he said he intends to visit again after the election in November to conduct further oversight. He also said that if he gets wind of one in Arizona, he’ll be there, as well. 

“They are planning to do these all over America. I’m not aware of one in Arizona yet but as soon as we hear about it we are going to go visit it to make sure citizens have the opportunity to have eyes on the court just as they are in any court,” he said.