The Trump administration has dramatically expanded the ranks of America’s immigration courts, swearing in what the Justice Department described as the largest incoming class of immigration judges ever assembled in a single intake.
A total of 82 judges — including 77 permanent appointees and five temporary judges — officially joined the system during a ceremony in Washington this week, pushing the overall number of immigration judges close to 700. The move comes as the White House intensifies its immigration crackdown and races to reshape the courts handling deportation cases.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche hailed the expansion as a direct outcome of President Donald Trump’s border enforcement agenda, calling the recruitment drive unprecedented in scale.
Inside administration circles, the new recruits are increasingly being referred to as “deportation judges” — a phrase critics say reflects the government’s hardline posture toward migrants and asylum seekers.
Unlike federal judges appointed under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, immigration judges operate under the Justice Department through the Executive Office for Immigration Review. Appeals from their rulings are handled by the Board of Immigration Appeals.
The hiring blitz follows a major reshuffling inside the immigration court system since Trump’s return to office in January 2025. More than 100 immigration judges have either been dismissed, retired, resigned, or accepted buyouts over the past year, according to figures cited by the National Association of Immigration Judges.
At the same time, the administration has steadily filled vacancies with candidates whose professional backgrounds lean heavily toward criminal prosecution, border enforcement, or immigration enforcement work — a notable shift from previous hiring patterns that often included defense attorneys and asylum specialists.
The Justice Department says it has now hired 153 permanent immigration judges during the current fiscal year alone, the highest annual recruitment total on record.
Among the newest additions are five temporary judges drawn from military legal backgrounds. Their appointments follow a Pentagon initiative announced last year under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth allowing Defense Department lawyers to temporarily assist the immigration court system for periods of up to six months.
Reducing the mountain of pending immigration cases remains one of the administration’s central talking points. Federal officials claim the court backlog has dropped from roughly 4 million pending matters to under 3.53 million cases since Trump re-entered the White House.
