The Justice Department fired multiple immigration judges on Friday, according to two sources familiar with the decisions and statements from one of the LinkedIn judges. The move threatens to throw sand into the gear of an already tense immigration system as the Trump administration moves to quickly reshape federal workers.
The exact number of judges affected by the shooting is unknown. The dismissal was enacted by the acting director of the Department of Justice’s Immigration Examination and Enforcement Bureau, which oversees the immigration courts.
The union representing immigration judges shows that more than 20 immigration judges, managers and new hires have been fired since the start of the Trump administration.
Five mid-level assistant chief immigration judges and 13 candidates received notices of fire on Friday, according to the International Federation of Specialised Engineers.
“You have a president who is currently campaigning about immigration and has taken people out of the country, while he is actually firing a judge who has to hear of these cases and make a decision. , that doesn’t make sense. Matt Biggs, president of Ifpte, said:
Since Trump took office, the administration has fired at least four top managers and fifth senior managers at the Immigration Examination and Enforcement Bureau, the union said.
Recently appointed immigration judge Kelly Doyle said that she and others, appointed by former President Joe Biden, had received an email on Friday informing them that they had been fired. Doyle previously served as deputy general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security during the Biden administration.
“The termination is despite the fact that the immigration court is currently close to 3.5 million pending cases and that the DOJ is seeking more money from Congress to hire more people at Eoir. This termination has occurred!” Doyle said in a LinkedIn statement that he referred to the Immigration Examination Enforcement Bureau.
Doyle argued that “the fire was political,” pointing out that she and her colleagues were employed during the Biden administration. NBC News cannot independently verify the claims as the number of judges fired remains unknown.
The Department of Justice and Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
President Donald Trump signed the memorandum on Thursday, seeking to impose “fair and mutual” trade tariffs on all major US trading partners, including longtime allies.
According to Congress’s Research Services, decisions to fire immigration judges are at risk of being added to the case backlog, which has reached record levels over the past three years.
According to the CRS, record high-level enforcement encounters at the Southwest border last year resulted in more than 1.8 million new lawsuits being filed. The new lawsuit has boosted the total backlog of immigration lawsuits to 3.6 million by the end of 2024, despite efforts by the immigration administration to hire more immigration judges and reduce processing times.
“There’s totally bipartisan support to actually hire more immigrant judges. That means there’s a backlog of almost 4 million cases, so this administration has been able to launch these shots and get backlogs. “We’ve been very successful in increasing the number,” Biggs said.
Rather, the Trump administration has focused its efforts on hiring staff to help with mass deportations, and has promised that “millions of people” will be expelled from the country.
Trump’s “border emperor” Tom Homan recruits staff from several federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Bureau and the Alcohol Bureau, tobacco, firearms and explosives, to help arrest immigrants.
“It’s not ice. It was all in the DEA, the FBI, the ATF, the former US s-services and DOJ,” Homan told NBC News in January following a massive deportation operation in Chicago.
The Department of Homeland Security asks the Internal Revenue Service to target companies that are thought to employ illegally working migrants in the country and investigate human trafficking, following a memo from Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem. I did.
NBC News previously reported that the administration is considering using Pentagon funds to hire contractors that will significantly increase the scale of immigrant arrests and deportation. The new funds will be used to expand temporary detention facilities and pay private companies to serve as staff.
The shooting also occurred shortly after a series of terminations at the Department of Justice, marking a departure from typical departures between administrations. During previous administrations, the Department of Justice called on politically appointed US lawyers to resign. However, this time the administration quickly fired as many as 12 US lawyers. The total number of affected US lawyers was not immediately clear.
Last month, the Justice Department fired multiple career lawyers who were involved in a federal case surrounding President Donald Trump’s allegedly overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election and allegedly claiming mistreatment of confidential documents. I did. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges and the case was removed after Trump was elected for a second term.
Surveillance video shows agents at the Newark seafood warehouse where several people were detained. Even US military veterans were asked questions. Reported by Sarah Wallace of NBC New York.
Trump’s first few weeks have been marked by massive upheavals in the federal workforce, with the government launching massive fires across the government. A federal judge gave Trump’s massive takeover plan a green light earlier this week, allowing the administration to persuade millions of people to step down from their position, but was paid until September. Ta. The Human Resources Administration also advised agency leaders this week to terminate probation employees in short-term positions.
Elon Musk-leading government efficiency department led Trump’s efforts to rebuild the federal workforce, targeting the US international development agencies and the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, among other sectors. It’s there.
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