The number of people scheduled for hearings at the 100 Montgomery St. immigration court from Monday through Wednesday was larger than usual, (Milli Atkinson, director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program at the San Francisco Bar Association) said.

“They’re counting on these people not showing up because otherwise you wouldn’t have that many cases on that day,” she said. If everyone scheduled had arrived in court, she added, judges would not be able to hear all their cases.

“They are compromising fairness and due process in order to have dramatic numbers of deportations,” (Dana Leigh Marks, who worked as an immigration judge in San Francisco for 35 years) said.