Another round of immigration judges received an email on Friday informing them they are being let go, NPR has learned, adding to the growing list of immigration court personnel cut by President Trump amid his efforts to speed up deportations of immigrants without legal status.
Fifteen immigration judges learned that they would be put on leave and that their employment would terminate on July 22, according to two people familiar with the firings and a confirmation from the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), a union that represents immigration judges. The two people spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
"Pursuant to Article II of the Constitution, the Attorney General has decided not to extend your term or convert it to a permanent appointment," the email reviewed by NPR stated. It went out to judges in Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, New York and California.
Like the 50 other judges fired within the last six months, the union said, the judges who received the most recent notices were not given a reason for the terminations. They were at the end of their two-year probationary period with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which is part of the Justice Department. Dozens of others took the "Fork in the Road," a voluntary resignation program aimed at reducing the size of the federal workforce. EOIR declined to comment.
"I wanted to ride it until the very end," said one of the fired judges, who spoke to NPR under the condition of anonymity since they are still employed by the department for a few more days. "I wanted to keep adjudicating, reviewing these cases. I figured as long as I am here, I can do some good."
The terminations landed after Congress approved a mega-spending bill that allocated over $3 billion to the Justice Department for immigration-related activities, including hiring more immigration judges. The funding and additional personnel are aimed at alleviating the growing case backlog, which is nearly 4 million cases. Hiring and training new judges can take more than a year.
"It's outrageous and against the public interest that at a time when the Congress has authorized 800 immigration judges, we are firing large numbers of immigration judges without cause," said Matt Biggs, president of the IFPTE union. "This is hypocritical — you can't enforce immigration laws when you fire the enforcers."
In recent months, EOIR leadership has criticized judges for not efficiently managing their caseloads and has encouraged adjudicators to streamline asylum reviews and give oral, as opposed to written, decisions on case dismissals. Trump has also voiced support for a plan in Florida to deputize members of the state's National Guard Judge Advocate General's Corps as immigration judges.
"There was a lot of political noise around us. I said, 'They're not going to pressure me out of this job,'" the fired judge said, noting that they extended some relief from removals and also approved final orders for deportation. "I have no regrets staying until the very end."
On July 3, Massachusetts' two Democratic U.S. senators, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, sent a letter to EOIR Acting Director Sirce Owen raising concerns over a prior round of firings that included judges in Massachusetts courts.
"As additional classes reach this mark over the coming months, EOIR must ensure that its conversion decisions are based solely on judges' performance, not their perceived loyalty to the Trump Administration's immigration agenda or any other criteria," Warren and Markey wrote, noting that typically 94% of judges are converted to permanent positions after their probationary period.
At the start of the year, there were about 700 immigration judges across the United States' 71 immigration courts and adjudication centers. These judges are the only ones who can revoke someone's green card or issue a final order of removal for people who have been in the country for more than two years and are in the process of being deported.
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