National Immigration Project

“Everything related to these large dockets or mass dockets is shrouded in such a strange secrecy,” said Gracie Willis, an attorney with the National Immigration Project, a nonprofit that provides legal services for immigrants. “Our confirmation that they were even happening really came from going to the court on Monday and seeing the large lines of people standing outside,” she added, referring to the proceedings she observed in New Orleans.

Lawyers said that they had observed judges taking in groups of people at a time, despite their different pleadings and cases. In one instance, a judge saw 15 people at once, running through Arabic, Spanish and Creole interpretations, Ms. Willis said.

On Monday and Tuesday, 89 people in one court alone were declared absent, and were therefore deportable, she added. “And that is not because they were ‘the worst of the worst.’ It is because they had a hearing scheduled that they were not able to attend for a variety of reasons,” Ms. Willis said.

As Trump Pushes Deportations, a Skyrocketing Caseload Strains Immigration Courts (Gift Article) A federal surge has more than doubled caseloads within some immigration courts nationwide. Lawyers say the tactic is causing errors and confusion.

Join us in extending congratulations to our colleague Rebecca Scholtz, named the recipient of the American Immigration Lawyers Association's 2026 Edith Lowenstein Memorial Award for excellence in advancing the practice of immigration law.

Her work has been particularly vital in the area of Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) and issues impacting unaccompanied children, where she has built expertise over more than a decade through direct legal services, amicus briefing, practitioner training, legal resource and strategy development, and federal litigation. Her expert testimony in a recent habeas case was cited 45 times in a 57-page opinion ordering an SIJS-approved young man's release from ICE detention.

When Operation Metro Surge swept through the Twin Cities, Rebecca helped launch the Minnesota Habeas Project, trained over 300 lawyers in a matter of weeks, and supported more than 100 attorneys taking on complex habeas cases across multiple jurisdictions—all while continuing her litigation work in two class action lawsuits affecting tens of thousands of immigrant youth.

The full press release is at https://nipnlg.org/news/press-releases/national-immigration-project-attorney-rebecca-scholtz-receives-ailas-2026-edith.