Trump removes 20 Biden-appointed judges from immigration courts

By 
 February 18, 2025

President Donald Trump has repeatedly pledged to remove ideologically driven actors from the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Evidence that the president takes his promise seriously came this week when he sent 20 Biden-appointed DOJ attorneys walking. 

Fired lawyers served as judges overseeing immigration courts

According to Breitbart, the lawyers in question were among 700 individuals who serve as judges overseeing immigration cases.

As the DOJ's website states, "Immigration Judges are appointed by the Attorney General of the United States to preside over immigration hearings. Loosely speaking, Immigration Judges decide whether a noncitizen may remain in the United States or must leave the country."

"Immigration court hearings involve complex immigration law issues and a wide range of relief from removability, and Immigration Judges decide cases involving asylum protection, detention and bond, adjustment to lawful permanent immigration status, and the loss of lawful immigration status," it adds.

One of the Biden-appointed attorneys to be removed was Kerry Doyle, who once ordered that some 300,000 active removal cases be shut down.

Doyle lamented her dismissal in a LinkedIn post, saying, "This firing was political. I can't say I was surprised this happened. I was expecting it."

Former immigration judge points to "huge discrepancy" in decisions

However, former immigration judge and Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) contributor Andrew Arthur indicated that the Trump administration is attempting to curb ideological influence within the immigration system.

"Nothing explains the huge discrepancy between judges in the same court who have wildly different asylum grant rates," Arthur was quoted as telling Breitbart.

The former immigration judge insisted that "it is incumbent upon the Trump administration to examine to see why this exists."

"We need to identify where the fraud is, and root it out … because, it is a slap in the face of the American people to allow people to fraudulently take advantage of our humanitarian instincts," he added.

Immigration judges are part of the executive branch and can be fired

Breitbart pointed out how despite their name, immigration judges are executive employees rather than being members of the judicial branch established in Article II of the Constitution.

Arthur stressed that firing them "is a norm that the Democrats have created, and now it’s adversely affecting their judges."

Despite those facts, Breitbart argued that many mainstream media outlets have portrayed the president's actions as being an attack on judicial independence.

" A free people [claim] their rights, as derived from the laws of nature."
Thomas Jefferson