Trump's four new judge nominees include Texas prosecutors pursuing immigration cases

By Nate Raymond

April 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has announced four new nominees to serve as federal district court judges, including two top prosecutors in Texas he credited for pursuing cases in keeping with his hardline immigration agenda.

Trump announced the four nominees in Florida, Ohio and Texas in a series of social media posts late on Wednesday, continuing his push to further entrench conservative influence on the federal judiciary that his first‑term appointments had already shifted sharply to the right.

The nominees include Acting U.S. Attorney John Marck of the Southern District of Texas and his No. 2, Arthur "Rob" Jones, whom the president selected to serve as life-tenured judges in their district, which covers locations including Houston.

It marked the latest instance of Trump tapping prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office to fill vacancies in the district. Marck became acting U.S. attorney after the Republican-led Senate in February confirmed the prior top federal prosecutor in the district, Nicholas Ganjei, to a judgeship.

Under Ganjei and now Marck, the office has played a key role in Operation Take Back America, a U.S. Department of Justice initiative launched in 2025 to combat illegal immigration and drug cartels.

On Friday, Marck announced his office filed charges against 440 people in immigration and border security matters in the last full week of March alone.

"As Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, John has worked tirelessly to help us deport Criminal Illegal Immigrants, and stop the trafficking of Lethal Drugs ravaging our Communities," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Trump similarly hailed Jones, the executive assistant U.S. attorney, saying he has "fought tirelessly to stop the flow of Illicit Drugs into our Country." Jones started his career in 2002 as a line prosecutor in Laredo, focusing on border-related crime.

To fill a vacancy in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Trump nominated Mike Hendershot, who serves as chief deputy solicitor general under Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

Trump said that in his current position, Hendershot "has strongly, and successfully, represented Ohio in Election Law cases, and challenged the Radical Left Policies of the Obama and Biden Administrations."

Trump also nominated Chief Judge Jeffrey Kuntz of Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal to serve as a federal judge in the Southern District of Florida.

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Texas prosecutor who backed Trump's immigration agenda elevated to bench