The Trump administration has terminated 17 immigration court judges in recent days as part of its ongoing efforts to accelerate deportations of immigrants across ten states.
The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, representing immigration court judges, announced that 15 judges were dismissed without cause on a Friday, followed by two more on a Monday. These judges were stationed in courts in states including California, Illinois, Texas, and Virginia, among others.
The big picture: The union’s President, Matt Biggs, condemned the terminations, criticizing the action as nonsensical and against the public interest since Congress had authorized an increase to 800 immigration judges. Biggs called for a halt in firings and advocated for new hiring instead.
- The firings coincide with the Trump administration’s intensified focus on the use of immigration courts to enforce stringent immigration policies, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arresting immigrants during their court appearances.
- Immigration court judges are confronted with a backlog of approximately 3.5 million cases, a figure that has substantially grown in recent years, leading to prolonged case processing times that can extend for years.
- Unlike criminal court proceedings, immigrants do not have an inherent right to legal representation. Individuals who cannot afford lawyers often represent themselves, with interpreters frequently aiding in presenting their cases during proceedings.
Go deeper: With the recent $170 billion legislation designed to enhance immigration enforcement, there is a planned infusion of $3.3 billion into the immigration courts, with intentions to expand the judge count to 800 and recruit additional support staff.
- Despite these allocation plans, the union noted that since the Trump administration assumed office, 103 judges have either been fired or voluntarily departed due to the “Fork in the Road” offers provided at the beginning of the regime.
- The union cautioned that the Department of Justice’s decision to dismiss judges would exacerbate case backlogs rather than expedite immigration court processes. The recruitment, hiring, and training of new immigration judges can take up to a year.
- Presently, there are around 600 immigration court judges as per union statistics, indicating a critical need for more appointments to alleviate the burden on the Justice Department’s immigration court system.
