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The immigration court planned for Indianapolis is expected to open by summer 2024, officials have confirmed to Indiana Lawyer.
“We expect to have seven courtrooms and about 40 employees at the facility, including immigration judges and other court staff. The Indianapolis Immigration Court will be located in the Minton-Capehart Federal Building, an existing federal building. Additional details on the timeline, hiring plans, or caseload are not available at this time. EOIR constantly monitors its caseload nationwide to meet the needs of all those with business before the agency; opening new immigration courts in high-volume areas is one way to meet our stakeholders’ needs,” the EOIR said in a written statement.
About a year ago, the U.S. Department of Justice announced its plans to open an immigration court in Indiana.
There were 68 immigration courts across the country with 600 judges, Indiana Lawyer reported in April 2022. The Chicago Immigration Court — which is currently assigned to cases from Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin — falls under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge, which is a component of the EOIR under the Department of Justice.
According to the DOJ, the EOIR’s primary mission is to adjudicate immigration cases “in a careful and timely manner, including cases involving detained aliens, criminal aliens, and aliens seeking asylum as a form of relief from removal, while ensuring the standards of due process and fair treatment for all parties involved.”
Since immigration courts are administrative, they do not impact the Indiana Northern and Southern District Courts.
The EOIR reported 1,874,336 pending cases at the end of the first quarter fiscal year for 2023, with 100,790 completed cases. According to the office’s statistics, the number of pending cases has steadily increased since 2008.
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