The judge travels to Anchorage at least four times a year for a week to hold hearings on individual cases, while master calendar hearings, which essentially combine docket control with preliminary hearings, are conducted telephonically between the Anchorage and Seattle courtrooms. In 1999, seventeen master calendar days were scheduled. While the caseload of the Anchorage court is smaller than that of immigration courts in other states, it nevertheless includes the entire range of types of immigration cases. Those placed in these proceedings can contest the INS charges or seek relief from removal by appearing before an immigration judge. As discussed later, those arrested and detained in Alaska usually appear in court outside the state.
Immigration judges conduct formal court proceedings and act independently.
The Board conducts a de novo review. Decisions of the BIA, in turn, are subject to judicial review in the federal courts. Other provisions of the 1996 legislation made the financial responsibility of immigrants' sponsors more stringent. The 1996 and earlier legislation have increased the scope of INS work and resulted in a proliferation of laws and regulations affecting both legal and illegal aliens. An expansion in the size of the EOIR has paralleled this.