Another group of immigration judges received termination notices on Friday, further advancing former President Donald Trump’s effort to fast-track deportations, NPR has learned.
Fifteen judges were informed via email that they’d be placed on leave and officially terminated on July 22, according to two anonymous sources familiar with the firings and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), the union representing immigration judges.
The judges — based in Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, New York, and California — were nearing the end of their two-year probation with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), a division of the Justice Department. Like the 50 judges previously dismissed in the past six months, they received no explanation.
The email cited Article II of the Constitution, stating the Attorney General chose not to extend their terms or convert them to permanent positions. EOIR declined to comment on the dismissals.
“I wanted to ride it until the very end,” said one of the fired judges, who spoke anonymously. “As long as I was here, I could do some good.”
The move comes shortly after Congress passed a massive spending bill allocating over $3 billion to the Justice Department for immigration enforcement — including expanding the number of immigration judges to alleviate a record backlog nearing 4 million cases. Hiring new judges and training them can take more than a year.
“This is outrageous and against the public interest,” said Matt Biggs, president of the IFPTE. “Congress authorized 800 immigration judges, yet the Trump administration is firing them without cause. It’s hypocritical — you can’t enforce the law when you’re firing the enforcers.”
EOIR leaders have recently pushed for judges to streamline asylum decisions and issue oral rulings instead of written ones. Trump has also backed proposals like Florida’s plan to deputize members of the National Guard Judge Advocate General’s Corps as immigration judges.
One judge noted they had both granted relief and issued deportation orders during their tenure. “They’re not going to pressure me out of this job,” the judge said. “I have no regrets.”
In response to earlier firings, Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey sent a letter on July 3 to EOIR Acting Director Sirce Owen, urging transparency and fairness in conversion decisions. They stressed that 94% of judges are typically granted permanent roles after probation and warned against politicized decision-making.
At the beginning of 2025, around 700 immigration judges served across the country’s 71 immigration courts. They are the only officials legally authorized to revoke green cards or issue final removal orders for immigrants residing in the U.S. for over two years.
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