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The Buffalo Immigration Court is under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge. That office is part of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) which is part of the US Department of Justice.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and are therefore separate from the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).
A few of these related offices are:
- USCIS Asylum Office (Newark, NJ)
- Buffalo USCIS field office
- Buffalo ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Field Office
- Buffalo ICE Office of the Chief Counsel
News media and inquiries from Congress can be sent to:
Office of Communications and Legislative Affairs
5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 1902
Falls Church, VA 22041
703-305-0289 (phone)
703-605-0365 (fax)
Location of the Buffalo Immigration Court
The court is located at:
Buffalo Immigration Court
130 Delaware Avenue, Suite 300
Buffalo, NY 14202
There are window filing hours as follows:
8am-12pm and 12:30 pm to 3pm
The office hours are:
8 a.m. – 4 p.m. (Monday-Thursday)
8 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. (Friday
Phone number. The Immigration Court can be reached at 716.551.3442. The Court doesn’t accept faxes or electronic submissions – unless the Court or the Immigration Judge requests the faxes/electronic submissions. If the submission isn’t requested, it will be discarded and won’t be made part of the record.
There is parking available on the street and at parking lots. There is also public transportation:
- NFTA Bus – 25 Delaware and 11 Colvin.
- NFTA Metro Rail – Fountain Plaza or Lafayette Stations.
The Immigration Judges are:
- Jose A. Sanchez, Assistant Chief Immigration Judge (Acting)
- Mary C. Baumgarten
- Steven Connelly
- Denise Hochul
- Walter H. Ruehle
- Court Administrator:
- Stephanie L. Kerr
The court is open Monday to Friday except for federal holidays. The EOIR, Office of Legal Access Programs, has numerous self-help materials.
What the Executive Office for Immigration Review does?
“The primary mission of the (EOIR) is to adjudicate immigration cases by fairly, expeditiously, and uniformly interpreting and administering the Nation’s immigration laws. Under delegated authority from the Attorney General, EOIR conducts immigration court proceedings, appellate reviews, and administrative hearings.”
“The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) was created on January 9, 1983, through an internal Department of Justice (DOJ) reorganization which combined the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA or Board) with the Immigration Judge function previously performed by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) (now part of the Department of Homeland Security).”
“Besides establishing EOIR as a separate agency within DOJ, this reorganization made the Immigration Courts independent of INS, the agency charged with enforcement of Federal immigration laws. The Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO) was added in 1987.”
The Director of the EOIR is James McHenry who previously “served as a Deputy Associate Attorney General working on a variety of immigration-related litigation matters and overseeing multiple components reporting to the Office of the Associate Attorney General.”
If you have a case before this court, learn how Herman Legal Group’s U.S. immigration lawyers serving Buffalo and Western New York can assess removal defenses, deadlines, evidence, and representation options. HLG serves Buffalo-area clients virtually and does not claim a physical Buffalo office.
