Starting September 8, the Miami Immigration Court will no longer allow participation by video call at hearings. All non-detained immigrants with pending cases at the court must appear in person, both at preliminary hearings and individual hearings. The remote participation option through the Cisco WebEx platform, available since the beginning of the pandemic, will be permanently discontinued.
The change occurs amid unprecedented overload at the court. According to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), Miami-Dade County concentrates the highest number of pending deportation cases in the country, with 137,373 cases, within a national total that exceeds 3.1 million. The so-called mega master hearings, which bring together 100 or more cases simultaneously, have caused lines that extend to nearby hotels, with parking lots full hours before the hearings begin.
Cases originally scheduled for 2028, 2029, and 2030 are being rescheduled for dates between September and November 2026, after the hiring of 77 new judges by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). The average notice period for appearance dropped from 158 days in April to just 42 days in June. Lawyers warn that missing hearings can result in deportation orders in absentia, and recommend arriving at 6am or 6:30am for morning hearings scheduled for 8am or 8:30am.
Since June 23, arrests within immigration courts have been prohibited nationwide by order of a federal judge. The general guidance is that immigrants carefully verify the date, time, and location of their hearings, contacting the court directly in case of doubt.
