The Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review — already grappling with more than 1 million pending cases — will suspend hearings for non-detained aliens through April 10 because of the coronavirus.
“All non-detained aliens’ master calendar hearings scheduled 03/16-04/1- are postponed,” the office tweeted late Sunday.
Hearings for non-detained aliens can include dozens of people in a single courtroom as the Centers for Disease Control urge everyone across the country to practice social distancing.
The suspension will impact 68 immigration courts around the nation.
All other hearings will proceed except for the Seattle immigration court which was closed Friday after a report of second-hand exposure to coronavirus. It will remain shuttered until April 10.
Washington state is among the hardest-hit regions in the country with 769 confirmed cases and 42 deaths.
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