The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) closed the Batavia Immigration Court in western New York at the end of business on July 24, transferring more than 10,000 pending cases to the Buffalo Immigration Court. An agency notice posted to practitioners on July 21 advised that, starting July 27, all pleadings, motions, and correspondence must be filed with Buffalo and that detained hearings will be conducted by video link. Batavia’s docket has long handled cases for migrants held at the nearby Federal Detention Facility, one of the largest ICE jails in the Northeast. EOIR officials cited “facility modernization requirements” and “resource efficiency” as reasons for consolidation, but immigration attorneys worry that distances of up to 75 miles will hamper in-person attorney-client meetings and reduce pro bono representation. The closure also affects corporate removal defense: foreign executives arrested for overstaying business visas in upstate New York will now see Buffalo judges, who historically have higher in-absentia removal rates. Employers should revisit rapid-response protocols and ensure that global mobility teams know which court’s filing rules apply. EOIR says it will increase staffing in Buffalo and add five virtual hearing rooms, but the American Immigration Lawyers Association is pressing for on-site legal access at Batavia until renovations finish. Without it, attorneys fear routine bond motions could be delayed, prolonging detention and inflating corporate legal budgets. Global travel managers should inform foreign employees transiting through western New York of heightened enforcement risk, especially given ICE’s recent workplace-raids initiative focused on logistics corridors along the Canadian border.
