Inside one of the busiest US immigration courts, judges are pressured to meet quotas or fear losing their jobs

Get the Full StoryLucy Nicholson Reuters

The Trump administration is placing speed and toughness above due process and judicial independence.

The US has roughly 60 immigration courts — a backlog of cases are becoming a major issue.

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has required that judges rule on a certain number of cases a year, or face penalties.

Judges in the immigration justice system feel pressured by this new policy of courtroom quotas.

From the outside, there's nothing special about the building at 606 South Olive Street in downtown Los Angeles. If anything, the 50-year-old office tower, with vacant retail space on the ground floors, is dingy compared to the newer, swankier buildings being built around it.

But if you're an immigrant fighting deportation, what happens inside this building is all-important. The US Immigration Court in Los Angeles is one of roughly 60 in the country. And the decisions judges make here — about who gets to stay in the US and who gets deported — can dramatically change people's lives, for better or for worse. See the rest of the story at Business InsiderNOW WATCH: The world is running out of sand and there's a black market for it nowSee Also:How the Trump administration enacted its lightning-rod 'zero tolerance' policy to separate parents from children at the borderThe US government could be holding 30,000 migrant kids in custody by AugustFamilies describe the terrifying gang violence they're fleeing in Central America, and why they're willing to try for asylum in the USSEE ALSO: 'Red tape unlike anything else': Migrant families are trying to navigate a murky, chaotic process to reunite with their children

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