Washington, D.C. — A quiet yet consequential shake-up is underway in America’s immigration courts. With little warning and no press conference to mark the moment, roughly fifty federal immigration judges have been dismissed under the administration of President Donald Trump, signaling a sweeping effort to transform the way the U.S. handles one of its most politically charged issues: immigration.
The dismissals arrived through a short email — just three lines, without detailed reasoning or formal hearings. But the impact has been loud. Immigration courts, long criticized for delays, conflicting rulings, and alleged political bias, are now the stage for a clash between Trump’s determination to streamline deportations and his critics’ fears of executive overreach.
The backdrop is staggering. By mid-2025, America’s immigration court system was facing an unprecedented backlog of more than three million cases. These ranged from asylum petitions to deportation appeals, with some applicants waiting years before even seeing a judge.
Critics across the political spectrum acknowledged that the system was overwhelmed. But while past administrations pursued gradual reforms, President Trump has chosen a more forceful path: cutting judges who, in his view, have obstructed immigration enforcement or bent the rules to favor undocumented immigrants.