Fired for Doing Their Job: The Quiet Dismantling of America’s Immigration Courts
When justice becomes a threat to power, justice is the first thing to go.
On Monday evening, December 1st, eight immigration judges in New York City were abruptly fired. No misconduct was cited or warnings given. Among them was Amiena Khan, a respected supervising judge at the 26 Federal Plaza immigration court and former head of the National Association of Immigration Judges. She had spent years working to uphold fairness in one of the most overburdened court systems in the country. Now she’s out, along with over 100 other immigration judges nationwide, purged from their positions under the Trump administration in less than a year.
That’s over one-seventh of the entire immigration bench. Gone.
There was no official explanation, just a wave of generic termination notices sent to judges with long histories of independent rulings, many of whom were known for granting asylum or other protections to immigrants whose lives depended on those decisions.
This isn’t a bureaucratic reshuffling. It’s a hostile takeover of the legal process.
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A Broken System, Starved by Design
The administration claims the immigration system is broken. They point out that the courts are overwhelmed, that the process is too slow, too complicated, and too lenient. In some ways, they’re not wrong.
The immigration court backlog has surpassed 3.5 million pending cases. In many cities, the average wait time for a hearing exceeds four years. That’s not because of immigrant non-compliance. It’s because the system has been starved of resources for decades. There aren’t enough judges. There aren’t enough courtrooms. There aren’t enough translators or clerks. Perhaps most importantly, most immigrants don’t have access to a lawyer.
What has this administration done to fix it?
They’ve fired judges, canceled dockets, fast-tracked deportations, stripped access to hearings, increased arrests at courthouses, and made it more challenging than ever to navigate the process, unless you have money, connections, or time to burn.
In short, they didn’t fix the system. They broke it further, then blamed the chaos on the people caught in it.
The Disappearing Courtroom
Immigration courts are supposed to be where claims are heard, where judges evaluate whether a person has a credible fear of persecution, whether they qualify for asylum, or whether their removal would violate U.S. or international law. They are, in theory, a shield against arbitrary or unjust deportation.
What happens when those judges are fired for doing exactly that? What happens when the courtroom itself disappears?
In place of justice, we now have a conveyor belt, a system where cases are dismissed with a whisper. In this system, ICE agents wait outside the courthouse doors. Under this format, immigrants who show up — who comply with the rules, who come in good faith — are met not with due process, but with cuffs, detention, and fast-tracked deportation.
Many are now being removed through “expedited removal,” a process that skips court entirely. Some never see a lawyer, much less a judge. The very act of participating in the system becomes a risk.
The message is unmistakable. If you come forward and try to follow the law, you will be punished for it.
A Loyalty Test for Judges
The judges being fired aren’t unknowns. They’re experienced jurists with deep knowledge of immigration law. Some, like Khan, have been in supervisory roles. Many have spotless records. Their only apparent crime is compassion, or rather, the consistent application of the law in ways that resulted in relief from deportation.
This isn’t about incompetence. It’s about ideology.
Under Trump, immigration judges are expected to be enforcers, not adjudicators. Decisions that go against the administration’s mass-deportation goals are seen not as lawful interpretations, but as disloyalty.
Therefore, judges who grant relief are removed. Those who question ICE’s claims are removed. Those who value independence are removed.
What’s left is a bench full of appointees who know that their job and their continued employment depend on siding with the state. The courtroom becomes a theater of obedience rather than a venue for justice.
Compliance as a Crime
The cruelty of this system is not just in its outcomes, but in its logic.
When an immigrant appears in court, it means they are trying to use the system legally. They’re not hiding or fleeing. They’re doing what the law says they should do.
However, under this administration, that compliance becomes a trap.
ICE agents now regularly make arrests outside of courthouses, processing centers, and even routine check-ins. Immigrants show up for their hearings and are detained on the spot. In many cases, the judge never even hears their case because DHS attorneys file a motion to dismiss, paving the way for immediate deportation.
If you follow the rules, you risk detention. If you disappear, you’re condemned as a lawbreaker. There is no safe path. There is no trust.
This isn’t about law and order. It’s about fear and control.
The Wealth Test for Survival
The U.S. immigration system was never perfectly fair, but at one time, it at least tried to be. Judges served as a safeguard against inequality, offering a second chance to those without power, without protection, without representation.
Now, that safeguard is gone.
Access to protection has become a matter of wealth. Those who can afford a lawyer, who can navigate the bureaucracy, who can buy time, may still have a shot. Everyone else is fast-tracked, forgotten, and gone.
The system still works, but only for those it was never meant to fail.
Dehumanization by Design
Asylum isn’t being restricted. It’s being erased.
Fear of persecution, evidence of torture, and legal protections under U.S. and international law no longer matter if there’s no one left to listen, if the judge is gone, if the courtroom is shuttered, if the case is dismissed before it’s heard.
This isn’t bureaucratic decay. This is a deliberate strategy.
It’s dehumanization by design, a system restructured not to weigh the value of a life, but to erase it from the legal process entirely.
What Remains
This is what happens when you fire people for doing their jobs, when you replace justice with obedience, and when you criminalize compliance and reward cruelty.
The immigration court is no longer a court. It’s a rubber stamp, and even that is being phased out in favor of silence.
For all the talk about law and order, the Trump administration is making one thing clear: they don’t want a legal process. They want a system that punishes anyone who dares to use it.
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Sources:
Trump administration fires numerous New York immigration judges — Reuters, December 2, 2025
Trump administration fires 8 immigration judges in New York City — ABC News, December 2, 2025
The Trump administration fires at least 7 immigration judges in New York — Delaware Public Media / NPR, December 2, 2025
There’s a near‑record immigration case backlog as number of judges drops, report says — KJZZ / Fronteras Desk, November 18, 2025
Breaking the Cycle of Dysfunction at the U.S. Immigration Courts — Policy Brief, migrationpolicy.org, November 2025
Immigration Court Quick Facts — TracReports Immigration, August 2025
Immigration Courts: Decline in New Cases at the End of FY2024 — Congress.gov
Are immigration judges keeping up with rising caseloads? — USAFacts, November 6, 2025
Immigration Court Backlog — TraReports Immigration backlog database (2025)
Immigration Courts: Actions Needed to Track and Report In‑Absentia Removal Orders — Government Accountability Office, December 19, 2024
‘Conveyer Belt’ Justice: An Inside Look at Immigration Courts — Government Executive
Thank you for this article. I remember when I was first married. The process for my husband to become a naturalized resident alien took a lawyer, thousands of dollars and a few years. I can't even imagine what it is like today. This administration sure makes a mockery of both the law and the statue of liberty.
What has become of “the land of the free” 🤷♀️🤬🤐😡🤦♀️