
About the Court

The Miami Immigration Court was originally established under the
former Immigration & Naturalization Service, and transferred to the
Executive Office for Immigration Review as part of a reorganization within the
Department of Justice in 1983. The Court remained relatively small for the first
five years of its existence as part of EOIR.
In 1988 the Court was composed of four immigration judges and seven
staff co-located with the DHS at 7880 Biscayne Boulevard, as well as two
judges and two staff at the Krome Detention
Center. The pending caseload
at that time was approximately 2,200 cases.
By 1992, the court had grown to six judges and sixteen staff, with
a pending caseload of 15,000. Hurricane Andrew caused extensive damage to the
Court, which was forced to move to temporary space at the Claude Pepper
Federal Building.
For several months, only one courtroom was available, resulting in a significant
backlog in the court calendar. By January 1993, the court returned to the Biscayne
Boulevard building, and moved into new space at 155
South Miami Avenue. This location, as well as the
one at the Pepper building, continued to be expanded to house a growing court,
which peaked at 28 judges in 1995. The pending caseload had grown to 24,000.
The court moved again in 2004 to its present location at 333 South Miami Avenue.
The court is presently composed of 18 judges, and has a pending
caseload of approximately 13,000.
Miami Immigration
Court Judges
- Sukkar, Elisa M.
(ACIJ)
- Alexander, Scott G.
- Bradley, Kevin G.
- Chapa, Teofilo
- Dowell, J. Daniel
- Hanson, Mahlon F.
- Holliday, Carey
- Horn, Michael C.
- Lane, Denise A. Marks
- Lopez-Enriquez, Maria
- Mander, Stephen E.
- Martinez-Esquivel, Lourdes
- McCormack, Nancy R.
- Miranda, Pedro A.
- Opaciuch, Adam
- Opaciuch, John
- Sanders, Charles J.
- Solow, Bruce W.
- Torreh-Bayouth, Lilliana

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