DOJ orders immigration courts to hold mega master calendar hearings of 100 or more cases

The Department of Justice directed immigration courts in May 2026 to schedule mega master calendar hearings with 100 or more respondents per session, far exceeding the typical 30-50 case master calendar docket. The policy aimed to accelerate processing of the multi-million-case backlog by grouping unrepresented immigrants into simultaneous preliminary hearings. Immigration attorneys and the National Association of Immigration Judges warned the format made individual due process impossible, converting individual rights hearings into mass processing events.