Justice Department Advertises "Deportation Judge" Jobs After Firing More Than 100 Judges

The Justice Department is moving to restock the nation's immigration courts after firing more than 100 sitting immigration judges, advertising new openings for what critics and some administration-aligned descriptions have called "deportation judges" as President Donald Trump accelerates his immigration agenda.

The new push comes after months of upheaval inside the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the DOJ agency that runs immigration courts. PBS NewsHour reported Thursday that the department has fired more than 100 sitting immigration judges and is now advertising to hire so-called "deportation judges" in their place.

A current DOJ job posting for immigration judges lists remote openings across multiple locations, with applications due May 22. The posting says EOIR is seeking "highly qualified individuals" to serve as immigration adjudicators and says judges must handle removal cases, bond hearings, asylum claims, withholding of removal, Convention Against Torture protections, and other immigration matters.

The qualification is to possess an LL.B., J.D., or LL.M. degree, be a member of a bar in the United States and to have "qualifying post-licensure litigation or adjudication experience."

LLB (Bachelor of Laws) and JD (Juris Doctor) are foundational law degrees required to practice law, with JD being the U.S. standard (3 years) and LLB common in Commonwealth countries. LLM (Master of Laws) is an advanced, specialized postgraduate degree (usually 1 year) taken after a JD/LLB for expertise in areas like Tax or International Law.

The job description also says immigration judges are required to exercise "independent judgment" in final decisions, language now under intense scrutiny from former judges and immigration advocates who say the firings have sent the opposite message.

The shake-up began early in Trump's second term. The Associated Press reported in 2025 that the administration fired 20 immigration judges without explanation, including judges who had not yet been sworn in and assistant chief immigration judges. At the time, immigration courts were already facing more than 3.7 million pending cases, according to Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

Since then, the purge has widened. Reuters reported in March that the Justice Department had hired 42 new immigration judges, many with backgrounds in immigration enforcement and prosecution, to serve in courts across 17 states. The appointments followed the removal, resignation, or retirement of more than 100 judges since January 2025.

The DOJ has defended the hiring drive as an effort to reduce the court backlog. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a March statement that the 42 new judges would help deliver on the department's goal of reducing pending cases and that immigration judges under Trump would decide cases "based on the law not politics."

Former immigration judges argue the opposite is happening.

Jeremiah Johnson, a former San Francisco immigration judge appointed during Trump's first term, told PBS NewsHour he was fired in November with no explanation after eight years on the bench. Johnson said judges were given less time to make life-altering decisions as their dockets expanded.

"What you saw were, judges were given little time to make those important decisions," Johnson said. "You saw an increase in cases. You saw pressure to decide cases. Dockets ballooned."

Johnson said he had been hearing three individual cases a day before additional detained cases were added to his docket, doubling his daily load to six. "The stakes couldn't be higher," he said, describing asylum seekers who claimed they faced murder, rape or harm if returned to their home countries.

Bloomberg Law reported that DOJ is also advancing a plan to detail up to 600 military lawyers to serve stints as immigration judges. The outlet quoted DOJ spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre saying EOIR plans to bring in a new class of judges at least every quarter and is "re-committed to following the law and fulfilling its core adjudicatory mission."

But critics say the immigration court system is especially vulnerable because immigration judges are not part of an independent judiciary. They are DOJ employees, meaning they ultimately answer to the attorney general. Former DOJ officials and immigration advocates have long called for Congress to move the courts outside the Justice Department to protect them from political pressure.

Originally published on Latin Times

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