Trump administration weeds outs lenient immigration judges despite dismay
The article reports that as President Donald Trump resumed office in January 2025, one in five immigration judges have been removed from their posts, mainly through firings by the executive branch. recently, eight immigration judges in New York were fired, including one who has sued alleging discrimination. Approximately 140 judges have been fired or resigned out of roughly 700 on the bench at the start of 2025.This reduction aims to replace judges perceived as favorable to immigrants with ones more aligned with the governance’s stricter immigration stance.
This move comes amid a backlog of 3.4 million pending immigration cases, mostly involving unauthorized border crossings prior to 2025. Legal experts argue the purge threatens the fairness and efficiency of the immigration court system by turning it into a “rubber stamp” for deportations. Currently, immigration courts fall under the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, part of the executive branch, allowing the administration to influence judge appointments and removals.
Democrats are pushing legislation to move immigration courts out of the executive branch to restore judicial independence. Senator Adam Schiff plans to introduce measures to regulate temporary judge appointments,while Representative Dan Goldman advocates shifting immigration courts under Article I of the Constitution rather than the executive branch. However, there are concerns that such reforms could be used by future administrations to remove judges with opposing political views.
Simultaneously occurring, the Trump administration is actively hiring replacements, including military judges, and has publicly recruited “deportation judges” to enforce its immigration policies. Despite the dismissals, Congress has funded the hiring of additional immigration judges, meaning the court system will not only be replenished but expanded under the current administration’s supervision.
One in five immigration judges out of a job as Trump officials remake court
1-in-5 immigration judges have left their posts since President Donald Trump retook office in January, largely the result of firings by the executive branch.
This past week, the Trump administration fired eight immigration judges in New York, one of whom are suing for alleged discrimination.
Roughly 700 judges sat on the bench at the start of 2025, with 140 judges having been fired or resigned during the course of the year so far. This development, Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) warned on Tuesday, would “only make cases proceed more slowly and the entire process less efficient.”
The Trump administration’s efforts to remake the bench this year have come at a time when the courts face 3.4 million pending cases, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research clearinghouse based in Syracuse, NY. The large majority of cases are for illegal immigrants who crossed the southern border prior to 2025.
The administration’s reduction of judges is meant to purge the bench of those who more frequently decide cases in favor of immigrants, according to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council in Washington.
“The Trump admin is systematically firing immigration judges across the country for no reason other [than] their above average grant rates,” Reichlin-Melnick wrote in a post on X Tuesday. “The goal is to transform an imperfect system which aimed for fairness into a rubber stamp mill, leaving only the ‘deportation judges’ they want.”
The Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review holds the immigration courts, which makes it part of the executive branch. Typically, courts are part of the judicial branch of government, which places them outside the reach of presidential administrations and allows them to operate independently.
The frequent terminations of judges by the Justice Department and the resignations of judges who have been frustrated by operating under this administration have spurred Democrats to consider taking legislative action.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, called this week for the courts to be moved out of the executive branch.
“If immigration judges are neutral and independent as due process requires, then they must be independent from the Executive Branch,” Goldman said in a post. “We must move immigration judges from Article II to Article I to provide a check on a lawless administration like this one.”
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) announced on Wednesday plans to put forward legislation “to restore proper guardrails over who can serve as a temporary immigration judge” amid the terminations and resignations.
But any guardrails that Democrats impose on the immigration courts could hurt a future Democratic administration that attempts to purge conservative immigration judges in the same way that the Trump administration has sought to push out progressive judges.
In 2022, two senior House and Senate Republicans investigated the Biden administration’s termination of immigration judges who had been hired during the first Trump administration.
The Trump administration plans to replace the judges it has parted ways with since January.
In addition to deploying up to 600 military judges to serve at the Justice Department and handle immigration cases in the meantime, the administration is also conducting a mass hiring effort.
The Department of Homeland Security, which houses immigration and border law enforcement agencies, has posted ads on social media recently imploring the public to apply for “deportation judges,” a play on words that suggests how new hires should be deciding cases.
Write the next chapter of America.
If you’re a legal professional, join the Department of Justice as a Deportation Judge to preside over cases and determine whether an alien must stay or leave our nation.
Make decisions with generational consequences. https://t.co/9Z1LOHSTds pic.twitter.com/uqZGJNBurn
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) December 1, 2025
Despite the dismissal of judges, the Republican-led Congress funded the hiring of additional judges in the One Big, Beautiful Bill passed at the start of summer.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION DID NOT VET OR RUN LAKANWAL’S NAME THROUGH DATABASES: DHS
It means that the judges who were pushed out or resigned in 2025 will not only be replaced by judges of the Trump administration’s own choosing, but dozens more judges will also be hired.
The attorney general may appoint any attorney to act as an administrative judge within the EOIR.
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