SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
President Trump is moving ahead with his efforts to shrink the federal government, even in areas that already have shortages, and that includes the nation's immigration courts. On Friday, 15 immigration judges received an email saying their time with the Justice Department was over. Now, some immigrant advocates say the firings are politically motivated and are intended to weaken due process in immigration cases. NPR's Ximena Bustillo is here in studio to explain all this to us. Hi there, Ximena.
XIMENA BUSTILLO, BYLINE: Hey, Sarah.
MCCAMMON: What do we know about this latest round of dismissals of judges?
BUSTILLO: Well, I'm told that 15 immigration judges in states like Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio and California received notice before the weekend that they would be placed on administrative leave this week, with their employment terminating on July 22. And I spoke with two people familiar with the firings who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation from the administration. This is the same email at least 50 other judges have gotten over the course of the last six months. They went to judges who have reached the end of their two-year probationary period.
Immigration judges are a lot more like civil servants. They work under the Justice Department within the Executive Office for Immigration Review, also known as EOIR. And they're not like judges in the judicial branch, who are appointed or elected, for example. According to the union representing immigration judges, over 100 judges have been fired or taken the so-called Fork in the Road. You might remember the Fork in the Road is that voluntary resignation program the Trump administration created with the goal of reducing the size of the federal workforce. Most parts of government dealing with immigration, such as Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, were not allowed to take that.
MCCAMMON: Now, President Trump has been asking for more funding for immigration enforcement. And he got a lot more funding from Congress in the Republican tax and spending bill recently. Was there anything there that was specifically related to immigration courts?
BUSTILLO: The bill did allocate over $3 billion to the DOJ for immigration-related activities, which included hiring more immigration judges. And hiring and training new judges is a process that can take over a year. But the process and the money was supposed to address the growing backlog of cases in the courts, which is millions of cases. And each immigration judge could review hundreds of cases in a year. Still, there's pressure to do something about that backlog. In recent months, court leadership has criticized judges for not managing their caseloads and encouraged adjudicators to do things like go faster, such as by streamlining asylum cases.
MCCAMMON: So what's the response like to this latest round of firings?
BUSTILLO: Immigration advocates, Democrats and those representing judges have raised concerns that the firings are politically motivated. Earlier this month, Massachusetts' two Democratic senators, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, sent a letter to EOIR acting director Sirce Owen raising concerns over a prior round of firings. And they said that additional classes of judges would be reaching their two-year probationary mark throughout this month. And the decision to make a judge permanent should be based solely on performance, not political support for the president.
I also spoke with Matt Biggs, president of the union that represents the judges. And he said the firings create a self-fulfilling prophecy where the backlog of cases will only get bigger as more people are arrested.
MATT BIGGS: It's hypocritical of this president and this administration to be firing immigration judges at a time when the case backlog is 3.7 million. It also begs the question, what is their intention when it comes to providing due process to immigrants in this country?
BUSTILLO: It's unclear what the strategy is going to be to replace these judges. EOIR declined to respond to NPR questions on why judges are being fired when funding has been approved to hire more.
MCCAMMON: NPR immigration policy reporter Ximena Bustillo. Thanks for being here.
BUSTILLO: Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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