EOIR held first 'mega master' immigration hearing in San Diego, ordered 50 deported in absentia

On June 12, 2026, the Executive Office for Immigration Review's San Diego Immigration Court held its first "mega master" hearing, part of a docket-rescheduling practice EOIR has expanded to immigration courts nationwide since attorneys first began reporting it around May 14, 2026. Under the practice, EOIR reschedules large numbers of previously-set cases onto compressed dockets — sometimes with as little as nine days' notice — so that a single judge hears more than 100 cases in one sitting.

In San Diego, Immigration Judge Catherine Halliday-Roberts ordered 50 of the roughly 70 people scheduled for the hearing deported in absentia because they did not appear, delivering the group removal order in about eight minutes. The courtroom's posted occupancy limit was 36 people. Among those who did appear was a woman who spoke neither English nor Spanish — only Indonesian — and did not understand the proceedings against her; she received a new hearing date after the judge advised the group of their rights through a Spanish interpreter.

Attorneys with the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the National Immigration Project documented similar mega master dockets in immigration courts across California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas and Virginia, with data analysts finding roughly 40% non-appearance rates during one week in late May tied to inadequate notice of the rescheduled dates. An EOIR spokesperson told Capital & Main that the scheduling changes are meant to ensure cases "do not languish."

Updates

2026-07-15 — EOIR expanded mega master hearings to New Orleans and courts in multiple states [4]

By mid-July 2026, EOIR had expanded mega master hearing schedules to immigration courts in New Orleans and other states beyond California, continuing the national rollout of compressed mass dockets documented at the June 12, 2026 San Diego hearing.

2026-07-23 — NYC issued nearly 4,500 in-absentia deportation orders in June; nationwide total reached 54,000 [5, 6]

New York City immigration courts emerged as a leading site for mega master hearings, holding 26 mass morning hearings in June 2026, second only to Chicago's 41. Immigration judges in New York City issued nearly 4,500 removal orders in absentia in June — up from 2,000–3,000 per month from January through May — to people who failed to appear at hearings that attorneys say often provided inadequate notice. Nationwide, in-absentia removal orders reached approximately 54,000 in June 2026, up from roughly 35,000 in May, according to bklg.org immigration court data analysis.