The Great Purge – How the Trump Administration Is Firing Immigration Judges Across the Country

It was a weekend of dismissals - quiet, abrupt, consequential. Within just a few days, seventeen immigration court judges in the United States were removed from their positions without explanation. This measure does not target just anyone. It strikes at a backbone of the American legal system - right at the moment when immigration courts have become the central stage of President Trump’s deportation policy.

According to the responsible union, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, the first fifteen terminations took place on Friday, followed by two more on Monday. Judges from ten states were affected - including California, Texas, New York, Illinois, and Virginia. The union’s statement described the dismissals as being “without any apparent reason” - and placed them in sharp contrast to Congress’s recent approval for a total of 800 judicial positions. “It is outrageous and against the public interest that we are firing judges while simultaneously being told to expand their ranks,” said union president Matt Biggs. “It is simply nonsensical. We should stop firing and finally start hiring.” But the dismissals are about much more than personnel policy. For months, reports have been mounting about targeted ICE arrests directly in front of courtrooms - about deportations carried out not after legal resolution, but based on appearance. It is a new rhythm of repression that courts are expected to follow - or be shattered by. In many cases, proceedings are dismissed during the hearing - but as soon as the person steps out of the courtroom, ICE agents are already waiting in the hallway to initiate immediate deportation. It is a Kafkaesque spectacle - the judge’s decision ends the proceeding, but not the persecution. Another scandal is emerging - Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, accuses the Justice Department of having deliberately punished a judge who had openly explained her work to him during a visit to the Chicago immigration court. Shortly afterward, she reportedly received an official notice stating that all communication with members of Congress should henceforth go through headquarters in Washington - and not long after, she lost her position. For Durbin, this is a clear case of intimidation and abuse of power - “This abrupt dismissal is an attack on the independence of the judiciary - and an attempt to punish a non-political judge simply for doing her job.”

At the same time, money is flowing in unprecedented amounts. The new law to enforce immigration policy includes funding of 170 billion dollars - with 3.3 billion earmarked specifically for the courts. The plan - up to 800 judges and the necessary support staff. But what looks like an expansion on paper is in reality a systematic restructuring - based on political loyalty. Since Trump took office, according to the union, over 100 judges have already left their positions - either voluntarily or through so-called “Fork in the Road” offers that encouraged a quiet departure. Many of these exits, the union says, resemble political purges. The result - the chronically overburdened courts are on the brink of collapse. With over 3.5 million unresolved cases, the backlog is historic. Hearings are often scheduled years in advance. Those affected who cannot afford a lawyer must represent themselves - often with interpreters, unclear legal status, and little chance of justice. That it is precisely now, in the middle of this overload, that experienced judges are being dismissed is more than just a bureaucratic decision. It is a signal - to judges who insist on the rule of law. To lawyers who resist. And to the people whose fates now lie in the hands of a system that is becoming less independent - but all the more efficient in acting against them. In the hallways of American immigration courts, it is becoming clear what it means when the separation of powers becomes a backdrop. When rulings are made but immediately overturned. And when a list of terminations shakes the democratic structure far more profoundly than any single breach of law ever could.