Trump administration adds 82 immigration judges to speed deportations

The Trump administration expanded the nation’s immigration courts with the largest judge class in the system’s history, betting that more bodies on the bench will help turn deportation cases faster. But with 3.29 million cases still pending and more than 2.31 million of them asylum claims, the new hiring also raises a harder question: whether the courts are being built to deliver due process, or simply to move more people out of the country.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review swore in 77 permanent immigration judges and five temporary immigration judges on May 20 in Washington, D.C., bringing the total immigration judge corps to nearly 700. The Justice Department said it had hired 153 permanent immigration judges in fiscal year 2026, a single-year record, and called reducing the court backlog one of its highest priorities.

The push comes after the administration removed dozens of judges across the country over the past year, cutting the corps from more than 700 when President Trump took office to below 600 earlier this year. Officials have also publicly referred to immigration judges as “deportation judges” in job listings, a framing that underscores how closely the hiring campaign is tied to the White House’s mass deportation goals. One posting, as described in earlier reporting, called on applicants to “deliver justice” to “criminal illegal aliens.”

At the investiture ceremony, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the administration was committed to restoring the rule of law in immigration adjudication and praised President Trump’s leadership. The new hires arrive as the Justice Department has also issued directives and precedent-setting orders that limit when judges can grant asylum, other relief, or bond to detained immigrants. That combination of personnel changes and policy shifts suggests the administration is not only adding judges, but also narrowing the legal room those judges have to slow deportations.

The numbers show the scale of the system the administration is trying to remake. EOIR said it completed more than 1.08 million cases since January 20, 2025 and cut the pending caseload from about 4.18 million to under 3.75 million. Yet TRAC’s count at the end of March still showed 3,288,186 pending cases, including 2,318,797 asylum matters, a reminder that the backlog remains enormous even after a year of aggressive enforcement and faster adjudication.

The temporary judges can serve for up to six months, a short-term fix for a court system under intense political pressure. The administration has argued that a larger, faster bench will help clear the backlog. Critics see a different outcome: a court system being expanded to accelerate removals more reliably than it protects the people whose futures depend on a fair hearing.