More judges hearing migrants’ cases in secretive tent courts

HOUSTON: More immigration judges are overseeing hearings remotely in secretive tent courts the US. government has built along the southern border.
A Justice Department spokeswoman said that one judge in El Paso, Texas, is hearing cases via video in Brownsville, nearly 1,120 km away. Five other judges hearing cases are based at the Port Isabel detention center, a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement jail adjacent to Brownsville.

The courts opened in September to process some of the 42,000 migrants forced to remain in Mexico under the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols. Some say they have been attacked and extorted in Mexico.
The US government refuses to let observers inside the tent courts to watch proceedings, citing security concerns. ICE hasn’t said if it will allow observers inside Port Isabel. AP