The Trump administration this week onboarded more than 80 new federal immigration judges as part of its ongoing push to expedite deportation cases and intensify its government-wide crackdown on illegal immigration, Justice Department officials said Thursday.
The Justice Department, which oversees the U.S. immigration court system, swore in 77 permanent immigration judges and 5 temporary immigration judges on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. Officials described the group as the largest class of immigration judges in the department’s history.
The new appointments come after the administration removed dozens of immigration judges across the country over the past year. When President Trump took office, the Justice Department had more than 700 immigration judges. By earlier this year, that number had fallen below 600. Officials said the latest hires will bring the total back closer to 700.
Immigration judges decide whether noncitizens facing deportation should be removed from the United States or allowed to stay. Although they carry the title of judge, they are not part of the independent federal judiciary. Instead, they are employees of the Justice Department, which operates dozens of immigration courts nationwide as well as an appellate immigration court.
While immigration judges are expected to remain neutral and not show bias toward either noncitizens or attorneys from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Trump administration has publicly referred to them as “deportation judges” in official job listings. One recruitment ad called on applicants to “deliver justice” to “criminal illegal aliens.”
Mass Deportation Campaign
As part of its mass deportation efforts, the administration has sought to overhaul the immigration court system, since removal orders issued by immigration judges are often required before deportations can take place.
The overhaul has included the removal of more than 100 immigration judges, many of whom were appointed during the Biden administration. Some ousted judges have said they believe they were dismissed for not moving deportations quickly enough or for having backgrounds in immigrant advocacy.
Over the past year, the Justice Department has also issued directives and precedent-setting decisions that sharply restrict when immigration judges can grant asylum or other forms of relief, and when they can release individuals in ICE detention on bond.
Most of the newly appointed judges previously worked as ICE lawyers or prosecutors, or served in the military as officers or judge advocates. Others worked as state or local judges or in private legal practice, according to biographical information released by the department.
Justice Department officials said the administration has hired 153 permanent immigration judges so far in fiscal year 2026, which began in October 2025.
In a statement Thursday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Trump administration is “committed to reestablishing an immigration judge corps that is dedicated to restoring the rule of law in our nation’s immigration system.”
“This could only happen thanks to President Trump’s decisive leadership and commitment to securing our borders,” Blanche added.
Greg Chen, senior director for government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, criticized the changes. He accused the administration of seeking to “compel” immigration judges to “act as tools of enforcement, not impartial adjudicators.”
Chen said the “deportation judge” job listings demonstrate that immigration courts “are not fair or independent in the way we expect them to be but are completely controlled by a President who has stripped them of power and is using them to execute his mass deportation campaign.”
The backlog of immigration court cases has grown significantly in recent years, driven by a surge in asylum requests at the southern border. On Thursday, Justice Department officials said the backlog has been reduced from 4 million to around 3.5 million cases since January 2025.
