Chicago Immigration Court: Information Guide

Chicago Immigration Court Overview

The Chicago Immigration Court is in Chicago, Illinois. It handles deportation and asylum cases for non-citizens in Illinois.

Illinois has just one immigration court in Chicago and it has 13 judges. The judges there hear many cases in person. But they also decide cases at jails in Chicago and several nearby counties.

The court decides cases at:

• Chicago Detained Center
• Plainfield Correctional Facility
• Chicago, Illinois
• Menard Corr. Ctr.
• Chicago Detained Juveniles
• Illinois DOC- Statesville
• Chicago Non-Detained Juveniles

In this guide, you can find all the information you need such as contact information, backlog data, and more.

Chicago Immigration Court Contact Information

Address

The Chicago Immigration Court is located at:

525 W. Van Buren Street, Suite 500
Chicago, IL 60607

Phone number

312-697-5800

This is the phone number you can use to contact the court’s clerks or the judges’ legal assistants.

If you want to check your immigration court date or your case’s status, visit our page.

Hours

Public Hours:  8:30 a.m.- 4 p.m.
Filing Hours:  8:30 a.m.- 12 p.m.; 12:30 p.m. -4 p.m.

Getting to the Chicago Immigration Court

What the court looks like

From the front, the Chicago court looks like this:

The back of the court building looks like this:

Immigration Judges in Chicago

The Immigration Court in Chicago has 13 judges. Judge Jennifer I. Peyton is the Assistant Chief Immigration Judge.

Judges

• Samuel B. Cole
• Patrick M. McKenna
• Elizabeth Crites
• Samia Naseem
• Brendan Curran
• Robin Rosche
• Craig A. Defoe
• Kaarina Salovaara
• Eliza Klein
• Eva S. Saltzman
• Michael P. Klosowsky
• Kaarina Salovaara
• Joshua D. Luskin

Judge Samia Naseem has the highest asylum denial rate (84.4%) and the lowest grant rate (15.2%). Judge Craig A. Defoe has the second-highest denial rate (76.3%) and the second-lowest grant rate (23.7%). On the other hand, Judge Samuel B. Cole has the highest grant rate (59.1%) and lowest asylum denial rate (40.9%)

Getting a Bond at the Chicago Immigration Court

Unfortunately, no immigration bond form is available for the Chicago Immigration Court.

Between 2001 and 2022, the Immigration Court in Chicago has heard 33,370 bond hearing cases. 19,115 of them were not granted while 14,255 were granted. In other words, the court has denied 42.7% of the heard cases.

According to the latest bond hearings statistics, Mexico comes in the first place. The total number of Mexican cases is 21,004 over the last 21 years. 8,716 of them were granted while 12,288 were not.

Guatemala comes in second place with a total number of cases of 2,144 over the last 21 years. 1,040 of these cases were granted while 1,104 were not.

Asylum Decisions in Chicago

Asylum Denial Rates in Chicago

Over the last 20 years, the Chicago Court has heard 14,309 asylum cases. 11,766 cases of them were represented while 2,543 were not.

Asylum was denied in 5,390 cases out of the represented cases while it was granted in 6,376 of them. This means that the court has an asylum denial rate of 45% of the represented cases.

This denial rate is actually great compared to other immigration courts. For example, the Memphis Immigration court has a denial rate of 67%.

Nationalities

By nationality, China comes in the first place with 1,659 asylum cases.

Mexico comes in second place with 1,300 cases.

Guatemala comes in third place with 1,081 cases.

Backlog and Wait Time in Chicago

There are 63,894 pending cases before the Chicago Immigration Court. It is a very high backlog because it is the only immigration court in Illinois. It is still a high backlog compared to other immigration courts in other states. For example, the Memphis Immigration Court has 47,764 pending cases

Free Lawyers for the Chicago Immigration Court

5 legal organizations can provide you with free legal services in Chicago. It is a good thing to use a free lawyer. But, it can have some downsides.

Visit our Immigration Court Page to find out more about getting legal help with your immigration case.

Children’s Legal Center

833 W Chicago Ave., Suite 320
Chicago, Illinois 60642

Tel: (312) 722-6642

Tel: (312) 392-1204

Fax: (773) 345-4158

[email protected].

www.childrenslegalcenterchicago.org.

• Represents asylum seekers
• Children and family cases only
• Represents detained and non-detained children

Mariposa Legal

1701 E. Edgewood #17293
Indianapolis, IN 46217

Tel: (317) 426-0617

Fax: (317) 973-6141

www.mariposalegal.org

• Representation limited to detained cases
• Languages: Spanish