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Donald Trump’s administration has fired or forced out roughly 100 immigration judges since the president took office, including more than a dozen in the last two weeks alone.

The administration purged at least eight immigration judges from New York City Monday, according to the union that represents them. Another five judges in San Francisco were fired last month without explanation.

Unlike federal district courts, immigration courts operate under the Department of Justice and at the direction of the attorney general. Trump’s radical overhaul of the nation’s immigration system has upended the courts that keep it running to expedite his mass deportation agenda.

One of the fired judges in New York is Amiena Khan, the assistant chief immigration judge at 26 Federal Plaza, a federal complex in Manhattan that houses immigration agencies and courtrooms.

The departures have whittled the number of immigration judges down from 715 to roughly 600, marking a 16 percent drop within 11 months.

The Trump administration has made it easier for ICE to swiftly arrest immigrants by ordering immigration court judges to dismiss their cases, making them easy targets for arrests. More than 100 immigration judges have been forced out since the president took office

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The Trump administration has made it easier for ICE to swiftly arrest immigrants by ordering immigration court judges to dismiss their cases, making them easy targets for arrests. More than 100 immigration judges have been forced out since the president took office (REUTERS)

Dozens of other judges have retired or resigned since the start of the Trump administration.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment to The Independent on personnel matters but said the agency doesn’t “target” judges “one way or the other based on personal criteria or a judge’s perceived views.”

The Justice Department’s Executive Office of Immigration Review “continually evaluates all immigration judges, regardless of background, on factors such as conduct, impartiality/bias, adherence to the law, productivity/performance, and professionalism,” the spokesperson said.

The office is “obligated to take appropriate personnel action to preserve the integrity of its system” if there is any demonstration of a “systematic bias in favor of or against either party,” the spokesperson added.

At least one fired judge has sued the administration, arguing that Justice Department officials relied on Trump’s “unjust” belief that the president can legally discriminate against federal workers based on their sex, national origin and political affiliation.

Tania Nemer, who was let go in February, believes she was fired for being a woman, a dual citizen who is the child of immigrant parents, and a one-time Democratic candidate for elected office, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week.

The Equal Employment Opportunity office dismissed her claims in September, arguing that civil rights law that protects against employment discrimination conflicts with the president’s power to remove federal workers — an argument that could blow up civil rights protections broadly.

A Justice Department memo from September argues that immigration judges do not have any protections from at-will removal under the Trump administration, including under Title VII, which prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

“It bears emphasis: The government’s legal theory reflects an unprecedented assault by the current administration against the civil service laws that protect millions of federal employees,” lawyers for Temer wrote Monday. “If the government prevails in transforming the law, it will eviscerate the professional, non-partisan civil service as we know it.”

The Trump administration is tackling a massive immigration court backlog by ordering DOJ attorneys and judges to close immigrants’ cases and then deploying ICE officers to put them in custody

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The Trump administration is tackling a massive immigration court backlog by ordering DOJ attorneys and judges to close immigrants’ cases and then deploying ICE officers to put them in custody (AP)

To fill the gaps, the Justice Department has loosened job requirements and deployed dozens of military lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges. Previously only Justice Department lawyers, with at least a decade of immigration law experience, or former immigration judges could fill those roles.

“Immigration law experience is not always a strong predictor of success” as an immigration judge, according to last week’s rule change.

After Trump took office, the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review told judges to grant motions from government lawyers to immediately dismiss immigrants’ cases, making them easy targets for arrest and removal.

That strategy has generated scenes of masked federal agents patrolling courthouse hallways and hauling away immigrants the moment they leave their hearings.

In September, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to the Justice Department to serve as immigration judges.

The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, a union that represents immigration judges, told The Independent at the time that it supports filling temporary immigration judge positions “through a transparent, merit-based process that takes into consideration an individual’s background, legal experience, knowledge of immigration law or judicial procedures, and experience in administrative law.”

But “hiring judges without adequate experience or knowledge of immigration laws could slow the system down and increase appeals,” the union said.

The Justice Department has loosened requirements for immigration court judges and enlisted Defense Department attorneys to fill the gaps after the administration fired dozens of judges since taking office

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The Justice Department has loosened requirements for immigration court judges and enlisted Defense Department attorneys to fill the gaps after the administration fired dozens of judges since taking office (REUTERS)

“The work of immigration judges has been described as life and death decisions in traffic court conditions,” Ben Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said in response to the push for Pentagon lawyers to serve as immigration judges.

“Expecting fair decisions from judges unfamiliar with the law is absurd,” he added. “This reckless move guts due process and further undermines the integrity of our immigration court system.”

A group of Democratic lawmakers have filed legislation that would limit who the Trump administration can appoint as a temporary judge.

The bill, from California Senator Adam Schiff, would mandate that the attorney general can only appoint temporary immigration judges who have served on appellate panels, are administrative judges in other agencies, or have at least 10 years of experience in immigration law.

“The Trump administration’s willingness to fire experienced immigration judges and hire inexperienced or temporary ‘deportation judges’ 
 has fundamentally impacted the landscape of our justice system,” Schiff said in a statement Wednesday.

“Given the administration’s unlawful terminations of qualified judges, and their plan to leverage the power of temporary positions to speed up their mass deportation agenda, the risks of grave injury to families, fairness, and due process have expanded,” he said.