The Trump administration fired 20 immigrant judges without explanation, union officials said Saturday in a move to clean up to reduce the size of the federal government.
On Friday, 13 judges and five aide judges who were not yet sworn in, were rejected without notice, said Matthew Biggs, chairman of the International Federation of Specialised and Technical Engineers, representing federal workers. Ta. Two other judges were fired last week under similar circumstances.
It was unclear whether they would be replaced. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Enforcement Office, which runs the court and oversees around 700 judges, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
According to Syracuse University’s Transaction Record Access Clearinghouse, immigration courts are backlogged in over 3.7 million lawsuits, and it will take years to determine an asylum case. The first Trump administration has put pressure on some judges to decide the case more quickly, but there is support across the political spectrum for more judges and support staff.
The Trump administration previously replaced five Supreme Court officials, including Mary Chen, the representative director of the Immigration Examinations Bureau. Sirce Owen, the current leader and formerly an appealed immigration judge, issued many new instructions.
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Last month, the Justice Department halted financial support for non-governmental organizations and provided information and guidance to those facing deportation, but recovered funds after a coalition of non-profits filed a federal lawsuit.
The shooting touches on two top Trump priorities. It’s massive deportation and reduced federal government. On Thursday, the agency ordered the agency to fire almost all probation employees who have not yet obtained civil service protection and who could affect hundreds of thousands of workers. Probationary workers usually work for less than a year.
Biggs, a union official, said he didn’t know if the judge’s termination was intended to send messages about immigration policies, and characterized them as part of a campaign across the federal workforce.
“They treat these people as if they weren’t humans,” he said. “It’s all bad.”
