10/22/2026
"WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) urging them to investigate the Trump Administration’s decision to rapidly establish new, hidden immigration courts.
In the Homeland Security Act, Congress preserved the separation of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immigration enforcement functions from immigration courts’ adjudicatory role. Yet the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) is establishing new courts in DHS facilities where they are managed by DHS personnel.
'DOJ regulations require that members of the public, including family members and loved ones, have access to immigration courts—but my staff documented DHS officials, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel, regularly prohibiting public access to immigration courtrooms at DHS facilities. Worse still, the Administration has established new court locations—where judges are appearing virtually—without providing formal notice to the public and in apparent violation of regulations and policies intended to ensure transparency and due process in immigration court proceedings,' Durbin wrote"
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to the Government...