NEW YORK — A massive purge of judges has left the federal government’s web of immigration courts decimated and in disarray. Ousted jurists believe that’s by design.
The roster of those who’ve lost their jobs since President Donald Trump returned to office includes judges with higher than average rates of granting migrants asylum, judges with dual citizenship and those with a history of providing legal defense to immigrants. But not all of them fit that mold.
“It’s about destroying a system where cases are carefully considered by people with knowledge of the subject matter,” said Olivia Cassin, a former New York immigration judge pushed out of her job late last month. “They’re firing everyone.”
So far this year, the Trump administration has dismissed at least 98 of the approximately 700 immigration judges who were on the bench, according to the National Association of Immigration Judges, an organization that advocates for independent immigration courts. Dozens more have retired or resigned. The diminishing headcount and mounting backlog of cases is fueling further disorder at immigration courts already roiled by masked federal agents detaining migrants and reduced pathways to legal status.
The courtroom culling process has become formulaic, ousted judges and their advocates told POLITICO: The judges receive an email stating Attorney General Pam Bondi has removed them from their posts, pursuant to Article II of the Constitution; their names are immediately struck from the Department of Justice’s website; and the news of the latest wave ricochets around chat groups formed among ousted colleagues.
Immigration judges are treated as at-will employees because the administrative courts they preside over fall under the purview of the Department of Justice and are not part of the judiciary branch. Rulings by judges in those immigration courts can ultimately be overturned by the attorney general. The oustings have renewed calls for the immigration courts to be independent of the executive branch — a push unlikely to gain traction in a Republican-controlled Congress.
A Department of Justice spokesperson blamed the current state of affairs on former President Joe Biden’s administration.
“After four years of the Biden Administration forcing Immigration Courts to implement a de facto amnesty for hundreds of thousands of aliens, this Department of Justice is restoring integrity to our immigration system and encourages talented legal professionals to join in our mission to protect national security and public safety,” the spokesperson said.
The Trump administration has sought to replace terminated immigration judges with military lawyers as a stopgap and recruit “deportation judges to ensure that only aliens with legally meritorious claims are allowed to remain.”
“We all felt like you can’t do more damage than you already have to the immigration courts and to justice and to due process. Yet it’s like, ‘Hold my beer, watch this,’” said Judge Jennifer Peyton, who told POLITICO she was fired in July in Chicago, where 14 judges remain. “New York is decimated. Chelmsford (Massachusetts) is decimated. The San Francisco court is decimated. Chicago is down half. There’s literally millions — millions with an ‘m’ — millions of cases that are pending.”
At New York City’s 26 Federal Plaza, an epicenter of clashes between immigrants, federal agents and protesters, seven judges were pushed out in one day this week. The wave of dismissals leaves 25 immigration judges in a courthouse that in January had 37, according to a comparison of Department of Justice staff lists now and then.
The most senior among the New Yorkers is former Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Amiena Khan, who is on the American Accountability Foundation’s “bureaucrat watch list.” Peyton of Chicago is also on the conservative opposition research group’s list. Of the nine judges targeted by it, only one remains on the bench: Claudia Cubas of Maryland.
Many of the judges are challenging their dismissals.
Cassin of New York has begun the process. Former Judge Tania Nemer of Ohio, who said she was fired in February, filed a lawsuit this week alleging the Department of Justice discriminated against her on the basis of sex, national origin and political affiliation. Nemer is a dual citizen of the United States and Lebanon and had sought local office as a Democrat.
Bondi referenced Nemer’s lawsuit at a Cabinet meeting, quipping, “Last I checked, I was a woman as well.”
The seven judges terminated in New York on Dec. 1 are all women: Khan, Lisa Ehrens, Maria Lurye, Alice Segal, Evalyn Douchy, Theodora Kouris and Lori Adams, five judges and court observers told POLITICO.
The expulsions have intensified the need for independent immigration courts, judges and Democratic lawmakers said.
“These unlawful and politicized firings are definitely just another reason why there’s a strong need for an independent judiciary under Article I or Article III of the Constitution,” said Anam Petit, a former Virginia immigration judge who said she was fired in September. “Judges should not be afraid for their jobs. They shouldn’t be nervous that they need to rule a certain way.”
Reps. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) plan to reintroduce legislation to move immigration courts out of the executive branch. The bill would establish an independent immigration court system.
“By firing immigration judges whose rulings he does not like, President Trump is installing himself as the judge and jury of his own decisions,” said Goldman, who has frequently sought to inspect areas in 26 Federal Plaza where migrants are being held. Goldman is part of a slate of House members suing the Trump administration for barring them from providing congressional oversight.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has launched a campaign seeking those willing to serve as “deportation” judges to fill the vacuum and is offering additional enticements. According to a job posting, the DOJ will provide a “25% of base pay recruitment incentive for first-time federal employees” placed in New York; Chelmsford, Massachusetts; San Francisco and other cities where a significant number of experienced immigration judges have been let go.
Jeremiah Johnson, an immigration judge who said he was fired in San Francisco late last month, called the recruitment effort a “false advertisement” that makes light of, and offers a bonus for, a position he and others consider a serious responsibility.
“During Trump One, when I was appointed, there was a policy that got some pushback called ‘No Dark Courtrooms.’ We were to hear cases every day, use all the space,” Johnson said in an interview. “Now, there’s vacant courtrooms that are not being utilized. And any attempts by the administration saying they’re replacing judges — the math just doesn’t work if you look at the numbers.”
