More Immigration Judges Are Being Fired Amid Trump’s Efforts to Speed Up Deportations

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. {snip}

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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.

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