Trump administration names 33 new immigration judges, most with military backgrounds

By Nate Raymond

Feb 5 (Reuters) - The Justice Department has hired 33 new immigration judges, including 27 temporary ones, after firing or pushing out more than 100 others as the Trump administration seeks out new recruits to serve as what it dubs "deportation judges."

The Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review said the new immigration judges were sworn in on Thursday, following the October hiring of 36 immigration judges, including 25 temporary ones, after months of workforce cuts.

The new judges will serve in immigration courts in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington.

Half of the new permanent judges have a military background, as do 100% of the temporary judges who can serve up to six months.

The Pentagon in September had said that military and civilian lawyers working for the U.S. Defense Department under the leadership of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would temporarily serve as immigration judges.

More than 100 immigration judges out of about 700 have been fired or pushed out since President Donald Trump's return to office in January 2025, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, a move that the organization says has depleted the number of judges available to handle a surge in cases as the administration ramps up arrests and deportations.

The immigration courts face a backlog of about 3.2 million cases as of December 31, according to data from Mobile Pathways, a nonprofit that analyzes immigration court data and promotes access to justice for immigrants.

Under Trump, thousands of migrants who in the past would have been eligible for release on bond have been subjected to mandatory detention after the Board of Immigration Appeals in September issued a ruling reinterpreting a key statute in a way that hundreds of judges in the federal courts have ruled is wrong.

The Trump administration plans to publish a fast-track regulation on Friday that would cut the time for someone to appeal an immigration judge's decision to 10 days and make it easier for the appeals board to dismiss appeals.

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US military lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges