H.R. 7836: Real Courts, Rule of Law Act of 2026

Immigration courts today sit inside the Executive Office for Immigration Review, an office of the Justice Department. H.R. 7836 would turn them into the United States Immigration Courts, an independent court created by Congress, so the attorney general would no longer manage the judges who decide deportation and asylum cases.

The new court would have two levels: a trial division that hears cases, and an appellate division of 21 appeals judges appointed by the president. Their first terms are staggered — 7 end after 5 years, 7 after 10, and 7 after 15 — so roughly a third of the appeals bench comes up for appointment every five years.

The court would write its own budget, and the executive branch could not revise it before it goes to Congress. Staff would be paid on a scale consistent with the federal judiciary, and judges would file public financial disclosures like other federal judges.

If you already have a case pending, it moves to the new court without starting over and without losing any rights you already have. Past rulings from the Board of Immigration Appeals and the attorney general stay binding until the new court overrules them, and the old rules stay in effect until the appellate division rewrites them.

The handoff is gradual. The court can open only at the start of a fiscal year at least 180 days after enactment, and only once the president has appointed at least 3 appeals judges. Enacted in early 2027, that would mean October 2027 at the soonest. Every sitting immigration judge becomes an interim trial judge for a 4-year transition, capped at 5 years of interim service.

The bill also opens the court to outside scrutiny. The chief judge would report to Congress every April on wait times, representation rates, bond outcomes, and grant rates by judge and region, and the Judicial Conference of the United States would review the court's decisions at least every 4 years.