Cortez Masto, Colleagues Admonish Trump Administration for Firing, Replacing Immigration Court Judges

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Attorney General (AG) Pam Bondi to oppose the Trump administration's decision to authorize up to 600 military attorneys to act as immigration judges. The senators' letter comes after the Trump Administration has fired dozens of immigration judges without cause.

"A White House official stated that assigning military lawyers to adjudicate immigration cases is intended to reduce the existing case backlog. Nothing the Trump Administration has done, however, suggests a genuine commitment to prioritizing immigration case review. The Administration only has worsened the problem by firing immigration judges and compelling others to resign," the senators began. "These trained immigration judges include former prosecutors, veterans, and officials who faithfully served through both Republican and Democratic administrations."

The senators emphasized that the Trump Administration is utilizing immigration courts to further its mass deportation scheme by arresting and detaining immigrants as they appear for their hearings.

"Moreover, the Administration could increase the backlog to nearly four million cases by seeking to recalendar thousands of cases that had previously been administratively closed-an apparent attempt to overwhelm the courts and make it harder for immigrants to oppose deportation proceedings. The Administration also has sought to sidestep case review and due process altogether by arresting and detaining immigrants who appear at court in order to expedite their removals without further hearings or legal process," the senators continued.

The senators stressed that military attorneys the Trump administration has authorized to act as immigration judges do not necessarily have experience or training.

"Immigration judges make final, binding, and life-changing decisions on an immigrant's status, including adjudication of asylum applications and final orders of removal; the effect of these orders involves detention and limitations of personal liberty, sometimes immediately after an order is issued. As such, actions taken by military lawyers acting as interim immigration judges appear to cross the line into civilian law enforcement, which cannot be performed by members of the Armed Forces," the senators wrote.

"The military apparently has begun its search for volunteers to serve as temporary immigration judges, sending recruitment emails to active-duty officers and reservists. At least one such email explicitly stated immigration experience was not required. Active duty and reserve judge advocates who reviewed these recruitment emails reportedly expressed concern that these temporary judges might be pressured to rubber-stamp deportations in line with White House objectives. These objections underscore serious threats to judicial independence and impartiality-particularly as the military attorneys, many without immigration law experience, would be serving in an unfamiliar adjudicatory role," the senators continued.

"Given the numerous and serious legal, ethical, and process concerns detailed above, we urge the Administration to reconsider the use of military attorneys as temporary immigration judge," the senators concluded.

The full text of the letter can be found here.

The first and only Latina senator, Senator Cortez Masto has consistently supported immigrant communities in Nevada, calling on both the Biden and Trump administrations to protect DACA recipients, TPS holders and other immigrants, as well as leading commonsense legislation to fix our broken immigration system. She has worked to pass meaningful immigration reform that balances critical border security measures with a path to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS holders, and essential workers.

###