The Trump administration has fired at least 20 immigration judges – including 13 who were consider in their probationary status – according to NBC 5 Investigates source and those of NBC News.
NBC 5 Investigates reached out to the White House and the Department of Justice on Monday seeking an explanation for the firings.
Over the weekend, one of the now-former immigration judges posted about her firing on LinkedIn, writing in part: “the firing occurred despite the fact that immigration court has in the neighborhood of 3.5 million pending cases and the DOJ is asking Congress for more money to hire more people…” She later added “hint: don’t fire the people you already have.”
Earlier this month, NBC 5 Investigates reported on the immigration court backlog.
We referenced a 2023 Congressional Research Service study that showed that the 3.7 million backlog of cases - where immigrants are either seeking asylum or fighting deportation - is so immense that adding another 300 judges wouldn’t clear it for 10 years. In fact, the study pointed out it would take an additional 700 judges – more than 1300 in total – to clear the case backlog by 2032.
“It’s hard to put that into perspective when you really think about because it’s charging each immigration judge four or five thousand cases. That’s just a huge docket when you compare it to just about any other court,” retired immigration judge James Fujimoto told NBC 5 Investigates during a recent interview.
Fujimoto told us that immigration courts have historically been underfunded, and because they operate under the executive branch’s Department of Justice – which cases get prioritized can change depending on who’s in office.
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When pressed on the Trump administration’s campaign promise to quickly deport thousands upon thousands of immigrants, Fujimoto said, "There is only so much you can do. You can say we are going prioritize these types of cases. That you can do if you are in charge,” he said.
News of the firings drew a rebuke Monday from Democratic members of Congress – including Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García of Illinois' 4th Congressional District:
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“Getting rid of 20 immigration judges is only going to increase the delays and the worrisome condition of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people who have been waiting eagerly for an opportunity to make their case, whether they're applying for a pardon, whether they're applying for citizenship, for suspension of deportation, on and on, this is the wrong way to go. We need more immigration judges, not less,” said Rep. Garcia.
Fujimoto said it was unclear to him why the Trump administration would get rid of judges as they would be the ones to hear and decide these cases.
It’s not clear if the Trump White House wants to use a procedure called “expedited removal” to try to cut out judges from the process.
