You notice how little is allocated for
IMMIGRATION JUDGES? Trump fired 25 within a month of taking office, and there are hundreds of vacancies already. "It takes over a year for these immigration judges to actually get into the job, get hired, get trained," said Matt Biggs, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, a union which represents immigration judges. "Most of these judges that were fired were ready to take the bench."
"There are about 700 immigration judges across the country's 71 immigration courts and adjudication centers. These judges are the only ones who can revoke someone's green card and issue a final order of removal for those who have been in the country for more than two years and are in the deportation process.
When someone is put in removal proceedings, they do not have the right to a lawyer, but they do have the right for someone to hear their case as to why they should not be removed. That can include asylum claims, or other measures to withhold or cancel deportation.
But immigration law experts warn that the system is already backed up. Judges review on average 500 to 600 cases a year. Still, there were
4 million pending cases in the last quarter of 2024, including nearly
1.5 million asylum cases. In fiscal year 2024,
immigration courts issued only 666,177 initial case decisions."