DOJ hires dozens of immigration judges after months of layoffs

The Justice Department has hired 36 immigration judges, including 25 temporary ones, for its Executive Office for Immigration Review, marking the first class to join the immigration courts after months of cuts to the workforce.

Judges will soon take the bench across 16 states, according to a Justice Department announcement. These include courts that saw the biggest losses of judges this year such as Chelmsford, Mass., and Chicago.

"EOIR is restoring its integrity as a preeminent administrative adjudicatory agency," the announcement states. "These new immigration judges are joining an immigration judge corps that is committed to upholding the rule of law."

The incoming class of permanent judges comprises mostly those with a background in federal government work, including EOIR itself and the Department of Homeland Security. Previously, they trained Immigration and Customs enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents, were asylum officers and worked for ICE's legal arm. One judge was originally going to take the bench at the start of the year but was among the initial class of judges fired before they could start.

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The temporary immigration judges include military lawyers from the Marines, Navy, Army and Air Force. Earlier this summer, the Pentagon authorized about 600 military lawyers to work for the DOJ. The DOJ changed who could qualify as a temporary immigration judge — effectively lowering the requirements and removing the need to have prior immigration law experience.

Immigration judges are the only ones who can revoke someone's green card or issue a final order of removal for people who have been in the country for more than two years and are in the process of being deported. Their backgrounds have often varied. Some come to the position after several years working for ICE's legal branch. Others come to it after working for immigrant defense nonprofits or private practice. Some have no immigration law experience.

The new cohort was trained at the EOIR headquarters in Virginia this month and are expected to start hearing immigration cases soon. Immigration courts have continued to operate during the government shutdown.

As part of its aggressive immigration policy, the Trump administration has moved fast to increase the rate of arrests of undocumented immigrants and scale up detention space and deportations. But the rapid pace of arrests has contributed to the backlog of millions of cases at immigration courts.

Over the past 10 months, EOIR has lost more than 125 judges to firings and voluntary resignations, down from about 700 judges at the start of the year. The loss has resulted in immigration cases being delayed as far out as 2029, NPR previously reported, as vacancies increase despite open job postings to fill roles in those courts.

Earlier this year, Congress approved a spending bill that allocated over $3 billion to the Justice Department for immigration-related activities, including the hiring of more immigration judges.