Ximena Bustillo

Ximena Bustillo, NPR News, Washington.

Immigrants are now being scheduled for massive master calendar hearings.

Those are being called mega masters.

That include 100 or more people at a time.

That's up from two or three dozen people at a time, which had been typical for a first hearing.

Immigration lawyers told NPR that these new hearings largely target people without lawyers representing them.

Those who show up late or not at all are receiving removal orders, further truncating the already limited due process available to immigrants.

In the past year, the Trump administration has pushed to streamline cases through immigration courts.

This includes moving up cases of people from specific countries and encouraging judges to review cases faster.

Ximena Bustillo, NPR News, Washington.

In a letter first shared with NPR, CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said Nurul Amin Shah Alam did not display signs of distress and his agents observed no disability requiring special assistance.

Shah Alam was a 56-year-old mostly blind Rohingya refugee who was found dead in Buffalo, New York, several days after he was released from immigration custody.

The comments by Scott were made in response to questions from New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

Scott said the Office of Professional Responsibility opened an ongoing investigation and that the Homeland Security Department's inspector general was notified.

Jimena Bustillo, NPR News.

The new immigration judges were hired to work across the Justice Department's 70 immigration courts.

Last year, the Trump administration fired over 100 judges and several more resigned or retired, resulting in a 25 percent drop in the number of judges to hear immigrants' cases.

On the day the new cohort was announced, several immigration judges, including in New York and Concord, were terminated.

In a statement announcing the new class, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch said that the administration is committed to reestablishing an immigration judge corps that is dedicated to restoring the rule of law in the immigration system.

There has been pressure on judges to reduce a 3 million case backlog.