Newark Immigration Building Waiting Times

We are going to post information about the long lines outside the Newark immigration building at 970 Broad Street based on unconfirmed reports from contributors. The building also holds the Newark immigration court, the USCIS examination officers, and the social security office.

New: The Third Circuit is aware of the long security lines outside of the immigration building in Newark, NJ. It calls the long lines "neither unexpected nor unavoidable." Easy for it to say! In the non-precedential decision of Yun Hui Lin v. Attorney General, No. 04-2805 (3d Cir. Apr. 14, 2005), an immigrant was ordered deported in absentia without ever hearing her asylum claim because she was late for her hearing. For her 9:00am appointment, she got to the Newark building at 10:15am and it took at least 45 minutes to get through what the Third Circuit called "lengthy security lines." The following data, however, suggest that the lengthy security lines are unexpected and unavoidable. They are unexpected because the length of the delay is wildly inconsistent. The delays are unavoidable because, well, there is no way to avoid the delay. That is, unless you are a judge, USCIS worker, ICE worker, ICE agent, DHS official, police officer, undercover detective, U.S. Attorney, security guard, cafeteria worker, IRS worker, daycare worker, building maintenance worker, office cleaning employee, or specially invited guest of a government employee.

The Newark Immigration Court's web site answers basic questions about coming to court. Nothing warns the public that they should expect lengthy security lines.

Please indicate the Date, Time of day, Minutes waited, and Line used outside the immigration building in Newark, New Jersey.

Data include:

Tuesday, March 22: 8:48am, waited 9 minutes.
Thursday, March 31: 8:30am, waited 23 minutes; 11:06am, waited 19 minutes; 1:01pm, waited 8 minutes
Wednesday, April 6: 2:00pm, waited 1 minute.
Thursday, April 7: 8:56am, waited 5 minutes.
Tuesday, April 19: 8:25am, waited 3 minutes.
Thursday, April 28: 8:55am, waited 3 minutes, used the right-entrance and directed to the Broad Street entrance.
Wednesday, June 8: 9:30am, waited 3 minutes.
DHS is putting up a fence all along the Broad Street side of the building. Not sure whether this will cause unexpected, unavoidable delays for entering the building.
Thursday, June 9: 8:58am, waited 15 minutes.
One of the entrances previously open to the public has not been closed and is for employees only. This may unexpectedly and unavoidably increase the wait time for the public to enter the building.
Tuesday, July 12: 9:47am, waited 17 minutes.
Thursday, July 14: 9:03am, waited 25 minutes
Wednesday, July 20: 8:56am, waited 11 minutes
Tuesday, July 26: 8:39am, waited 17 minutes
Thursday, July 28: 8:05am, waited around 25 minutes
Wednesday, August 24: 9:05am, waited around 7 minutes; 9:35am, waited around 5 minutes
Monday, August 29: 8:51am, waited 21 minutes
Thursday, September 1: 8:15am, waited 31 minutes (new record!); 10:56am, waited 2 minutes
Tuesday, September 6: 8:38am, waited 7 minutes; 10:39am, waited 4 minutes
Wednesday, September 8: 8:58am, waited 7 minutes
Tuesday, September 13: 3:45pm, waited 2 minutes
Wednesday, September 14: 8:44am, waited 9 minutes
Monday, September 19: 12:41pm, waited 3 minutes
Thursday, September 23: 2:35pm, waited 1 minute
September 27: 8:39am, waited 8 minutes
September 28: 8:31am, waited 3 minutes
September 30: 2:23pm, waited 1 minute
October 6: 1:58pm, waited 2 minutes
October 12: 8:52am, waited 9 minutes
October 18: 9:47am, waited 23 minutes
October 20: 12:41pm, waited 5 minutes
October 25: 9:21am, waited 19 minutes
October 26: 8:46am, waited 5 minutes
October 28: 11:06am, waited 2 minutes
November 1: 1:46pm, waited 2 minutes
November 3: 8:53am, waited 2 minutes; 3:07pm, waited 1 minute
November 4: 12:34pm, waited 1 minute
November 8: 2:25pm, waited 2 minutes
November 9: 8:20am, waited 2 minutes; 3:14pm, waited 2 minutes
November 10: 12:53pm, waited 1 minute
November 14: 2:43pm, waited 1 minute
November 16: 9:12am, waited 2 minutes; 3:02pm, no wait
2006
January 19, 2006: court appearance arrived 8:39am and waited 28 minutes; (non-court appearance arrived 9:30am and waited 2 hours and 20 minutes)
June 1: Note, the officials have changed the entrance to the Broad Street entrance. The lines can be extremely long. Around 9am, the wait can be around 40-45 minutes. One time, at 9am, there were 200 people waiting to enter the building.