In July 2014, EOIR acted to prioritize the adjudication of cases of
recent border crossers that fall into the following four groups as
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identifies them: (1)
unaccompanied children; (2) families in detention; (3) families
released on “alternatives to detention” (ATD); and (4) detained
cases of recent border crossers. On Feb. 4, 2016, EOIR announced
the cases of respondents who were released from detention
following a bond hearing under Rodriguez v. Robbins, 804 F.3d
1060 (9th Cir. 2015), whom DHS determines are Priority I category
for civil immigration enforcement, and who have pending removal
proceedings will now be a docketing priority. This change went
into effect on March 1, 2016. EOIR continues to prioritize the
cases of detained individuals that do not fall into one of these five
categories. DHS’s annotation of the charging documents filed with
EOIR continues to define the cases that fall under one of the
above priorities.
For additional information regarding docketing practices, please
see EOIR’s notice, which you may find
at http://www.justice.gov/eoir/RevisedDocketingPractices0204201
6.
It is important to note that some immigration courts are
rescheduling non-priority, non-detained cases for Nov. 29, 2019,
to allow for the scheduling of priority cases. While some
rescheduled cases may have hearings on Nov. 29, 2019, the vast
majority will be rescheduled for another date, earlier or later,
depending on docket availability. EOIR will continue to adapt
appropriately, and to concentrate on fair and expeditious
hearings, with due process to all respondents who come before
the court.
You may be interested to know that on July 20, 2016, EOIR had
reached 500,051 pending cases. At the end of FY 2015, the San
Francisco Immigration Court had 31,321 pending cases (see
EOIR’s FY 2015 Statistics Yearbook, Page W2), and at the end of
June 2016, the San Francisco Immigration Court had 35,005
pending cases (this is the most recent data I have on hand for the
San Francisco Immigration Court).

 With a robust hiring initiative continuing and an all-time high of
277 immigration judges, the agency is working to become better
poised to address this increasing caseload. The FY 2015 and FY
2016 enacted appropriations for the Department of Justice
included funding for 90 new immigration judge teams (35 in FY
2015 and 55 in FY 2016). EOIR is now authorized 374 immigration
judge positions and the agency is steadily climbing closer to that
number, thereby augmenting adjudicatory capacity and working
to reduce the pending caseload and wait times for those in
proceedings. EOIR currently has approximately 100 more
immigration judge candidates at various stages of the hiring
process. If EOIR receives the additional 25 immigration judges
referenced in the House Appropriations Committee Bill, we will be
authorized 399 immigration judge positions.
-Kathryn Mattingly
Assistant Press Secretary
Executive Office for Immigration Review – US
Department of Justice