Manhattan immigration courts on Monday saw the first instances of so-called mega master hearings, a tactic the Trump administration is using across the country to accelerate deportations. One judge was scheduled to hear 121 cases in a single day. Another had a docket of 88. The vast majority of individuals were listed as having no legal representation.

"It's pretty horrifying," New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams told the Prospect in the waiting area outside the courtroom of Judge Kalenna Lee, who was rapidly moving through the list of 88 cases, many of them unaccompanied children with legal representation, spending in some instances no more than three minutes per person. "For clarity, this has nothing to do with public safety," Williams added. "This is about rounding up people the government doesn't like."

Stuffing the docket is the Trump administration's latest tactic to deport one million people annually, a practice NPR was the first to report last week. Lawyers who spoke with NPR said mega master hearings were under way in Boston, Chicago, and Massachusetts, and would soon begin in Dallas. Court-watchers alerted the Prospect last Friday that they'd start in New York City on June 1; staff of some elected officials said they were not aware of the plan until this past weekend.

Master hearings are typically the first time someone attends immigration court to begin the process of staying in the country legally; the hearings were already quick and crowded, typically including 20 or 30 people all heard by the same judge at the same time.

. . .