Maddie Bender

Federal judges in Hawaii have taken on more than 50 immigration cases from three districts in California.

All are habeas corpus petitions, in which detained immigrants allege the government is unlawfully holding them in custody.

The Eastern District of California has received more than 3,000 petitions from immigration detainees since last January, more than almost any other district in the country.

Chief Judge Troy Nunley says his district is grateful to be outsourcing cases to judges in Hawaii.

Judges in San Francisco and Washington state are also pitching in to help the district's caseload.

For NPR News, I'm Maddie Bender in Honolulu, Hawaii.