As Trump Purges Immigration Judges, One Speaks Out

What It Covers

NYT reporter Nicholas Nehamas examines how the Trump administration has systematically transformed U.S. immigration courts into a deportation apparatus, firing 115 judges, pressuring remaining judges through job threats, and driving asylum grant rates to below 10% — the lowest recorded in two decades of available data.

Key Questions Answered

• •Structural vulnerability: U.S. immigration courts operate entirely within the executive branch, not the judicial branch, meaning the attorney general can hire and fire judges at will. Unlike lifetime-appointed federal judges, immigration judges have no institutional independence. This design, established in the 1980s, makes the entire system legally susceptible to presidential policy pressure.
• •Asylum rate collapse: Asylum approval rates dropped from roughly 50% under Biden to below 10% under Trump's second term — the lowest figure in 20 years of available data. The shift reflects both direct firing of judges with higher grant rates and systemic pressure on remaining judges who fear termination for rulings perceived as favoring respondents over the government.
• •Targeted firing pattern: Data analysis of the 115 fired judges reveals a clear pattern: those terminated disproportionately had Democratic appointments, prior careers representing immigrants, and above-average asylum grant rates. The administration never publicly stated firing criteria, but a memo warned judges against tolerating bias "in favor of an alien," signaling the implicit standard for job retention.
• •Caseload flooding as deportation tool: The administration schedules up to 100 hearings per judge per day, a volume that makes thorough case review impossible. Judges working 14-hour days and weekends still cannot meet minimums. The practical effect is mass deportation orders against immigrants who miss hearings due to inadequate notice or lack legal representation, raising due process concerns.
• •Structural reform as the only durable fix: Judge Holly Deandre, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, argues that removing immigration courts from Justice Department control and placing them in an independent judicial structure is the only sustainable solution. Legislation to accomplish this exists in Congress, but no president has incentive to voluntarily surrender this level of immigration enforcement power.