The Trump administration has fired over 100 immigration judges since returning to office and replaced them with people it calls “deportation judges.”
Many of those replacements are DHS prosecutors and military lawyers with little to no immigration law experience. A whistleblower military lawyer who briefly served as one said he was told asylum should only be granted in extreme circumstances. His example of what qualified: “Maybe if you were Jewish and escaping Nazi Germany in 1943.”
The judges who kept their jobs did not have it easier. Internal memos warned that rulings favouring immigrants could trigger disciplinary action. “All of us are looking over our shoulders,” said Holly D’Andrea, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges. Asylum approvals have since dropped to under 10% of cases, the lowest rate on record.
Two judges were fired last week specifically for dismissing deportation cases against international students who had advocated for Palestinian rights on US campuses.
The Board of Immigration Appeals, which sets binding legal precedent for all immigration courts nationwide, has been stacked with Trump appointees who ruled in favour of the government in 97% of cases last year.
The White House calls it restoring rule of law. The judges being fired call it something else entirely.
