More than 100 immigration officials – 43 immigration judges and 85 staff members, including law clerks and translators – have reportedly been terminated or voluntarily departed from their roles in the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) since President Trump’s second term began.
Matt Biggs, the president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, a union that represents immigration judges, explained that more than half of voluntary departures are a result of the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program, which guaranteed federal employees who agreed to resign by February 6th full pay and benefits through September.
By contrast, many of the terminated employees were hired during the Biden administration to alleviate the increasing backlog of nearly four million immigration cases, which critics say contradicts Trump’s campaign promises to deport undocumented immigrants.
The Department of Justice Tells Employees to Halt Legal Orientation for Immigrants
This news comes after the acting EOIR Director Sirce Owen wrote last week that the Department of Justice withdrew “multiple layers of removal restrictions shielding administrative law judges,” which also applies to immigration judges. Additionally, the DOJ told federally-funded legal service providers to halt any legal orientation to support immigrants last month, another act contributing to making the path to U.S. citizenship less effective and equitable.
The Trump administration has not announced a plan to combat the backlog of immigration cases following the mass terminations and voluntary resignations of judges hired with an intent to aid this growing issue.
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