Trump Administration Onboards Largest-Ever Class of New Immigration Judges in Bid to Speed Up Deportation Cases
Updated on: May 21, 2026 / 9:41 AM EDT / CBS News
TL;DR
- The Trump administration onboarded over 80 new federal immigration judges, including 77 permanent and 5 temporary ones.
- This hiring push is intended to expedite deportation cases and the government's crackdown on illegal immigration.
- The additions aim to bring the immigration judge corps back to around 700 members, after a decline below 600.
- Immigration judges, who are Justice Department employees, decide whether noncitizens should be deported.
- The administration has referred to these judges as 'deportation judges' in job listings.
- The Justice Department stated it has reduced the backlog of immigration court cases from 4 million to 3.5 million since January 2025.
- Critics, like Greg Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, accuse the administration of trying to make judges 'tools of enforcement' rather than impartial adjudicators.