Trump Administration Dismisses Over a Dozen Immigration Judges Amid Border Crisis

In alignment with President Donald Trump’s initiative to reduce the federal workforce, the administration dismissed more than a dozen immigration judges on Friday.

A union representative informed the Associated Press that 13 judges, who were scheduled to be sworn in, along with five assistant chief immigration judges, were abruptly fired without prior notice. This follows the termination of two other judges earlier in the week, according to AP reports. No replacements have been announced at this time.

The backlog of pending cases in U.S. immigration courts has exceeded three million. Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse data indicates that immigration judges currently manage an average of 4,500 cases each.

Additionally, the Trump administration replaced five senior court officials, including Mary Cheng, the acting director of the agency, as reported by the AP.

In a memo released on January 27, Sirce Owen, acting director of the Department of Justice, criticized the Biden administration for its impact on the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).

''An effort to restore those values and to re-establish EOIR as a model administrative adjudicatory body is well underway,'' Owen stated. ''If all employees are willing to join that effort, then there will be no limit to what EOIR can achieve.''

Furthermore, on Thursday, the Trump administration directed agencies to terminate most probationary employees who lack civil service protection, according to the AP.