Several federal office buildings in Southern and Northern California were temporarily closed due to disruptions by protesting demonstrators, leading to the temporary suspension of immigration court proceedings within the buildings. Some immigrants who had long-awaited interview appointments had them postponed or temporarily canceled.
According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) update on Wednesday (June 11), the office located at 300 North Los Angeles Street in North Los Angeles will remain closed until Friday due to facility issues. The immigration agency stated that for applicants affected by the closure who had scheduled interviews with immigration officers, the USCIS system will automatically provide new appointment times as soon as possible. However, for those who had used the InfoPass online scheduling system for other interview applications, they will need to reschedule on their own.
Some applicants who arrived at the Los Angeles immigration office for immigration matters were unaware of the closure and were told they needed to reschedule, causing them to feel anxious and unsettled, which led to discussions on social media. Fortunately, some individuals quickly received new appointment dates, with some appointments being postponed to the end of the month or even a month later.
According to Yang Xiao, case manager at Chen Chuang-Chuang Law Office in Los Angeles, one of their clients required a hearing in the “small court,” which was delayed due to the office building closure. She mentioned that besides the immigration court under the Department of Justice, the building also houses offices of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, handling immigration enforcement (check-ins, arrests of criminal undocumented immigrants, etc.), naturalization, marriage interviews, and other matters.
Information on the USCIS website also indicates that appointments for fingerprinting will be automatically rescheduled if they were affected by the building closure, with notification sent to immigration applicants.
Yang Xiao stated, “Both virtual and in-person court hearings will be affected; those who need to check-in won’t be able to, and individuals needing to attend naturalization ceremonies will also be impacted.” She estimated that there could be hundreds of immigrants in Los Angeles affected by the building closure.
In the past few days, protesters had concentrated outside this federal building, resulting in numerous graffiti on the outer walls and obscene remarks defacing the building signage. Reporters witnessed National Guard soldiers patrolling the building while carrying weapons.
Apart from Los Angeles, two other immigration courts in California were also impacted. The immigration court located at 100 Montgomery Street in San Francisco was forced to close on Tuesday afternoon due to protesters flooding the building. At that time, the court was conducting hearings, and hundreds of people had gathered outside the courthouse. According to Bay Area NBC, immigration judges will reschedule hearings for those affected by the delay.
Additionally, according to the San Francisco Chronicle website, on Tuesday afternoon (June 10), the immigration court in Concord, located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, canceled all immigration hearings scheduled for that afternoon due to a physical altercation that briefly occurred between protesters and federal officials.