The Justice Department has reportedly axed dozens of immigration judges as the Trump administration moves to close President Joe Biden’s asylum loophole.
NPR reported that 70 immigration judges have been fired by the Department of Justice; however, a Justice Department spokesperson disputed the figure, saying it terminated fewer than 55 judges.
It also disputed the outlet’s reporting that the Justice Department targeted or prioritized the firing of immigration judges, including whether it targeted judges that defended immigrants.
“DOJ doesn’t ‘target’ or ‘prioritize’ immigration judges for any personnel decision one way or the other based on prior experience,” a DOJ spokesperson said.
“DOJ continually evaluates all immigration judges, regardless of background, on factors such as conduct, impartiality/bias, adherence to the law, productivity/performance, and professionalism.”
The Justice Department spokesperson said, “Pursuant to Article II of the Constitution, IJs (Immigration Judges) are inferior officers who are appointed and removed by the Attorney General.”
Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, said, “But the way the Trump administration is approaching immigration courts reflects a really high prioritization of immigration enforcement and [the administration] has really made deportations this whole-of-government effort.”
Breitbart News’s Neil Munro reported that Trump’s deputies have shrunk Biden’s asylum loophole and are installing judges and rules to block more fake asylum claims:
The asylum loophole is being closed because Biden’s 10 million illegal migrants are losing their pleas for asylum and citizenship at record rates.
More illegal migrants are being ordered home, and the backlog of 1.1 million pending asylum cases is being reduced. These courtroom gains complement the administration’s policies of arresting more illegals on the streets and of detaining all new illegal migrants at the U.S. border.
“Between explicit policy changes and implicit threats to get in line or get fired, [asylum] judges on the whole seem to be following [Trump] orders to deny, deny, deny,” wrote academic Austin Kocher.
“This is not an accident—this is a policy decision,” Kocher wrote.
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