Justice Department fires 20 immigration judges from backlogged courts amid major government cuts

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Justice Department fires 20 immigration judges from backlogged courts amid major government cuts

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Trump administration fired 20 immigration judges without explanation, a union official said Saturday amid

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

to

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

On Friday, 13 judges who had yet to be sworn in and five assistant chief immigration judges were dismissed without notice, said Matthew Biggs, president of the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, which represents federal workers. Two other judges were fired under similar circumstances in the last week.

It was unclear if they would be replaced. The U.S. Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, which runs the courts and oversees its roughly 700 judges, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.

Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inbox

See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.

Immigration courts are backlogged with more than 3.7 million cases, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, and it takes years to decide asylum cases. There is support across the political spectrum for more judges and support staff, though the first Trump administration also

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

The Trump administration earlier replaced five top court officials, including Mary Cheng, the agency’s acting director. Sirce Owen, the current leader and previously an appellate immigration judge, has issued a slew of new instructions, many reversing policies of the Biden administration.

Last month, the Justice Department halted financial support for nongovernmental organizations to provide information and guidance to people facing deportation

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

after a coalition of nonprofit groups filed a federal lawsuit.

The firings touch on two top Trump priorities:

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

and shrinking the size of the federal government. On Thursday, it ordered agencies to

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

who had not yet gained civil service protection, potentially

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

. Probationary workers generally have less than a year on the job.

Biggs, the union official, said he didn’t know if the judges’ firings were intended to send a message on immigration policy and characterized them as part of a campaign across the federal workforce.

“They’re treating these people as if they’re not human beings,” he said. “It’s bad all around.”

___

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Justice #Department #fires #immigration #judges #backlogged #courts #major #government #cuts

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up