Immigration judges union sounds alarm on 'unprofessional' ousting of Trump-era picks: 'They deserved better'

The union for immigration judges in the United States is expressing concern about the ousting of multiple Trump-era immigration judges from their positions -- calling the removals "unprofessional" and in contradiction of the Biden administration's stance on labor, while warning of negative effects on judge morale.

Fox News Digital reported last week that multiple judges appointed in the latter days of the Trump administration, and whose two-year probationary periods are now up, are being removed -- with at least one judge saying it is because they are out of step with the administration’s immigration views.

Typically, the vast majority are moved to a non-probationary position. The DOJ did not say how many have recently been let go at the end of their probationary periods. A spokesperson for the DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review told Fox News Digital last week that it does not comment on personnel matters. 

There are 590 sitting immigration judges, and the DOJ says decisions related to career civil service employees, who include immigration judges, are based solely on performance, and the administration they were hired by plays no role in decision-making.

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But now, the National Association of Immigration Review, in a letter to the EOIR obtained by Fox, is requesting reviews of the actions related to three judges who were recently let go "to ensure that they were taken in full compliance with the law and that the probationary evaluation processes comports with fundamental fairness and sound labor relations."

The union says that the letters served to the judges provide no explanation for the termination besides "performance and/or conduct," leaving judges to speculate as to their reasons for removal. The letter was first reported by The Washington Times.

It is unclear how many immigration judges appointed at the back end of the Trump administration and whose probation ended this year were let go, but Fox is told that the number is at least five, other estimates have put that number higher.

One ousted judge, Matthew O’Brien, told Fox News Digital last week that he believed the appointees have been removed because of their backgrounds as Trump appointees or links to conservatives causes, and also blamed an opaque complaints' system that allowed aggrieved immigration lawyers to file complaints.

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"Some aggrieved attorney who doesn't like the decision that they got in the case that might not have had any merit to begin with can file a complaint complaining about the judge and then nothing happens except harassment of the judge," O'Brien, who had previously worked for the hawkish Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), said. "So it requires the judges to write a response … and then it goes into a black hole, and nobody tells anyone anything except the complaining attorneys. So they don't give the judges a written decision on it. They don't talk to the judges and tell them what happened."

Another judge, who spoke to Fox News Digital on condition of anonymity, said that some judges had been let go after being given just a few days to respond to multiple and often vague complaints made against them, and were let go in virtual conference calls lasting mere seconds.

"It's demoralizing. It's traumatizing. It's hard to sometimes put one foot in front of the other since my abysmal dismissal," the judge said.

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The judge said that the system is "more than dysfunctional, it's corrupt."

"The DOJ just doesn't even know what's going on. Every single court is its own fiefdom. They get away with things that would give you an aneurysm." they said.

The union, in its letter, says that it is concerned about the lack of transparency or feedback given to judges to address any concerns, and say that they understand that the judges who were recently let go had been given satisfactory performance reviews.

"The Agency’s refusal to provide any meaningful feedback and explanations as to why the judges were not retained contradicts the administration’s position on labor and the value of good employer-employee relations," the letter says.

"In addition, the manner in which these judges were treated after being informed of their removals was also unprofessional and unbefitting their office," it says. "They deserved better."

The letter also warns that the removals have "a substantial and negative effect on judge morale in these judges’ courts and across the country."

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It comes at a time when cases have been rising amid a massive migrant crisis at the southern border. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said recently that typical case lengths are at between six and eight years.

The administration has been rolling out a new asylum rule that would allow U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officials to adjudicate asylum cases instead -- reducing wait times from years to months. But that has raised concerns from Republicans and conservatives that it will lead to the rubber-stamping of cases that would otherwise be rejected.