I consider Chicago my hometown. My entire family was raised on Chicago’s south side and I grew up in a southeast suburb called Dolton, a working-class town traversed by railroad tracks and surrounded by industry. Fun Fact: Pope Leo grew up in Dolton about a mile from my house.
So when ICE began its cruel attacks on immigrants in Chicago and communities fought back, I wanted to help. I joined the American Bar Association’s immigration court observation program and after an ABA online training, I began observing in October 2025. I have observed morning or afternoon dockets in-person around 10 times, sometimes moving between various courtrooms per visit.
Chicago’s main immigration court, on the 15th floor of a downtown office building, conducts immigration proceedings for people in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana. Immigration courts are administrative courts within the U.S. Department of Justice and judges are civil servants. They, along with the Department of Homeland Security, decide whether an immigrant stays in the country or should be removed.
Customarily, the process begins when an applicant receives a notice to appear, which outlines the reasons for being summoned to immigration court and sets an initial hearing date. From there, applicants (called respondents) typically attend what is known as a master calendar hearing. It reviews the government’s allegations and other due process matters and sets the date for an Individual hearing, which is immigration court’s version of a trial. It is a complex system for anyone to navigate, let alone people who don’t speak English or understand the nuances of governmental procedures.
ABA’s observer training stresses neutrality so I silently watch, take copious notes and complete online reporting forms when I return home. Since I began observing, court procedures have changed dramatically, a direct result of President Donald Trump’s goal of deporting 1 million immigrants a year. The process now deliberately stokes chaos, accelerates dockets, ignores legal precedent, bullies and removes judges, changes hearing dates without adequate notice, conducts “group advisals,” places people in mandatory detention, detains and deports unaccompanied children, and flies people to dangerous countries, to name just a fraction of the injustices being repeated every day across the country.
Holding “mega master” hearings are the latest tactic to dramatically accelerate removals. Mega master hearings bunch a 100 or more respondents into a single time slot with little or no notice. The results are exactly as intended, with upward of 80% of people not appearing, which is automatic grounds for “removal in absentia” – they are headed for deportation.
In 2025, the court dockets I observed generally included around 20 cases per morning or afternoon. When I observed in August 2026, the mega master was in full force with docket totals per judge as follows: 52, 35, 105, 54, 138, 107, 95, 91 and 105. The Clark Street court showed two judges, one with 198 cases and one with 82.
But make no mistake, mega masters are not meant to simply streamline a lawful system of due process. They are, instead, the implementation of cruel and inhumane policies that deny due process, create chaos and obstruct justice. Mega masters corral people in a courtroom under the guise of justice, denying them dignity and stripping them of constitutionally guaranteed protections.
What all this information about process obscures is the impact on the individuals and families appearing in court. They patiently stand for hours in stark, narrow hallways with small children and elderly family members – no effort is made to provide accommodations or crayons and books as you might expect to help keep the little ones busy. They wait silently. The children wait – they seem scared.
Once in the courtroom, through provided interpreters, the adults listen attentively and politely respond. They rarely ask questions, but when they do, it’s apparent they do not fully understand what is happening to them. They are well-dressed, seem eager to please and, if asked, proudly mention jobs, schools and extended families. These people are not dangerous criminals.
But it is the young children that linger in my memory. I’ve never seen small children be so well-behaved for so long. In my mind, I see one little girl about 5 years old sitting erect on the hard, wooden bench in a fancy dress and Mary Jane shoes with her beautiful black hair smoothed back with a large white bow. I think of my 4-year-old granddaughter and my heart aches.
Whatever your overall position on immigration, can we agree that this is not what anyone signed up for?According to Vatican News, “Pope Leo XIV decries recent measures against migrants in the United States, and he calls for treating people with humanity and dignity.” While the pope’s moral outrage slithers off Trump, I can only hope that we step up and vote to end this disgusting scourge. It’s not too late.
Sheila Stocks-Smith is a longtime community and political activist and frequent contributor to Illinois Times.
This article appears in October 22-28, 2026.
