The Donald Trump administration is moving to purge immigration judges as it steps up a crackdown on illegal immigration.
On the 16th, Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration has recently been firing a large number of judges from the immigration courts. According to the immigration judges' union, about 100 judges—roughly one-seventh of all federal immigration judges—have recently been dismissed, with firings concentrated in Democratic-leaning areas such as Chicago, New York and Boston.
On the 1st (local time), eight immigration judges in New York were fired in a single day, and in San Francisco, a judge handling an asylum hearing was notified of dismissal in the middle of proceedings. The dismissal notices were largely delivered via two-line emails on Friday afternoons, according to reports.
The United States has a stand-alone Immigration Court operated by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). The court functions as an administrative court under the Justice Department, separate from the judiciary, and as a quasi-judicial body its independence has been customarily guaranteed. That is why this personnel intervention is considered unusual.
Former judges say the recent moves suggest a government calculus to remove judges with high asylum grant rates. Doris Meissner, a researcher at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) who oversaw immigration policy under the Bill Clinton administration, said, "A purge of judges on this scale is hard to find precedent for," adding, "It appears the administration is trying to oust judges who run counter to its policy line."
In fact, the administration is filling the seats of former judges with so-called "deportation judges." Last month, the Justice Department launched a major hiring push for deportation judges, and the job posting included the phrase "an opportunity to make decisions that will have generational impact." The Department of Homeland Security also posted on social media, calling to "bring down the hammer on illegal residents and protect our communities and culture."
With military judges temporarily assigned, the deportation grant rate is rapidly rising. According to the immigrant support nonprofit Mobile Pathways, about 20 military judges temporarily assigned to immigration courts since October have issued deportation decisions in roughly 78% of their cases, far exceeding the 63% deportation decision rate of civilian judges over the same period.
The government says it is easing chronic case backlogs. A Justice Department Spokesperson said in a statement, "The previous Biden administration effectively forced a mass amnesty on the immigration courts," adding, "Since President Trump took office, the 3.4 million-case backlog has shrunk by a record amount."
But the dismissed judges are delivering withering remarks day after day. Judge Olivia Kassin, who worked in New York for 10 years before being dismissed recently, decried the move as "an attack on due process, the rule of law and judicial independence." Judge Shooting Chen, who was dismissed mid-hearing in San Francisco, said, "I have issued asylum grants at a high rate, yet the government's appeal rate was under 5%," adding, "The court is becoming a place where people cannot expect fair judgment."
David Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, said, "The administration is bringing the immigration courts closer to the enforcement apparatus through personnel and structural changes," adding, "The veneer of procedural independence that has been maintained is effectively being peeled away."