Trump Fires 100+ Immigration Judges, Hires 140 Replacements

The Trump administration has fired more than 100 immigration judges since the start of its second term and hired over 140 replacements to address a backlog exceeding three million cases in immigration courts across the United States.

The firings began on the president's first day back in office in January 2025, targeting senior officials at the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the Justice Department agency overseeing the courts, as well as dozens of judges in cities including Hartford, Connecticut; Chicago; San Francisco; New York; and others. Some judges retired or resigned amid the changes. Immigration judges, who are employees of the Justice Department rather than the independent judiciary, handle decisions on asylum claims and deportations for over three million pending cases.

Analyses of the new hires' publicly available biographies show that two-thirds list no prior experience in immigration law. Only about 24 had previously worked for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security, or the immigration courts. Training for new judges has been shortened from nearly five weeks to three, according to the National Association of Immigration...