- Trump administration is purging immigration judges—over 100 fired nationwide in 2025, including eight at NYC's 26 Federal Plaza—aiming to intimidate courts.
- Purges risk worsening a 3+ million case backlog, skewing decisions toward harsher enforcement and undermining judicial independence and immigrant protections.
In a move that’s rippling through the already strained world of U.S. immigration courts, President Donald Trump has axed eight immigration judges in New York City—nearly one in five at the bustling 26 Federal Plaza courthouse.
It’s part of a broader, relentless wave of firings that’s seen over 100 judges ousted nationwide this year, leaving advocates and legal experts decrying a deliberate assault on judicial independence.
The dismissals, which hit on Monday, come at a time when 26 Federal Plaza has become synonymous with turmoil.
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For months, the federal building—long the nerve center for migrant check-ins in the nation’s largest city—has been the stage for high-stakes drama.
Masked ICE agents have swooped in for arrests during routine appointments, sometimes escalating into outright violence, like the recent suspension of an officer caught on video brutalizing a mother of four.
Now, with judges facing the chopping block, insiders say the chaos is seeping from the hallways straight into the hearing rooms.
Details of the Purges
At the heart of this shake-up is the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, the arm of the federal government that oversees the immigration court system.
These aren’t independent Article III judges; they’re civil servants, which means they’re easier targets for political maneuvering.
Out of roughly 700 immigration judges across the country, more than 100 have been fired or effectively pushed out in 2025 alone.
In New York, that translates to eight of the 42 judges at 26 Federal Plaza getting pink slips, shrinking an already overburdened roster that’s grappling with a backlog of cases fueled by aggressive enforcement policies.
Sources close to the matter, speaking to The New York Times, describe the firings as a calculated push to instill fear—not just among immigrants, but among the judges themselves.
The apparent goal? Pressure remaining jurists to rule more harshly against those seeking asylum or relief from deportation.
“The court has been basically eviscerated,” Olivia Cassin, a former immigration judge who spent over a decade on the bench before her own November firing at a different New York courthouse, told the Times.
“It feels like a Monday afternoon massacre.”
Cassin’s words echo the infamous “Saturday Night Massacre” of 1973, when President Richard Nixon purged officials investigating Watergate.
But this modern version feels more personal to those in the trenches. Many of the ousted judges, according to reports, were yanked mid-hearing—escorted out of the building while cases hung in limbo.
It’s a jarring image: a judge in robes, mid-sentence, suddenly relieved of duty.
A Nazi-Like Party
The pattern isn’t random. An NPR deep dive last month revealed that most fired judges had histories of advocating for immigrants in some capacity during their careers—granting bonds, allowing appeals, or simply applying the law in ways the administration deemed too soft.
The move has been seen as authoritarian, with users on social media labeling the Trump administration a “Nazi-like party”, where “it’s one way or no way.”
A review of 11 new appointees showed zero experience in immigration defense. Their résumés skew toward enforcement: roles in ICE, the military, or other federal gigs focused on cracking down, not protecting rights.
Of the 36 judges who’ve been swapped out so far this year, the Justice Department has offered zero public explanations—no performance reviews, no misconduct allegations.
The fired judges, piecing together the clues, point to one common thread: perceived leniency.
It’s a charge that fits the Trump playbook, where immigration policy has always been less about nuance and more about spectacle and speed.
Take Tania Nemer, one of the casualties. The former judge, booted in February, fired back on Monday with a federal lawsuit accusing the administration of unconstitutional retaliation and sex discrimination under Title VII, the landmark civil rights law barring bias in the workplace.
Nemer, a dual U.S.-Lebanese citizen who once ran for office as a Democrat, claims her firing was payback for her background and politics.
Adding insult to injury, the DOJ’s own equal employment opportunity office had ruled just last December that Title VII protections don’t extend to immigration judges under Trump’s at-will removal powers.
Her suit, filed in D.C. federal court, challenges that head-on, arguing it violates core constitutional safeguards.
An Injustice More Americans Are Waking Up To
This isn’t happening in a vacuum. The immigration court system was already creaking under a backlog topping 3 million cases before Trump’s return to the White House.
Now, with fewer judges—especially those versed in the complexities of asylum claims—the delays could balloon, trapping families in limbo longer and amplifying the human cost.
In New York alone, the loss of those eight judges means fewer hearings, more continuances, and a heavier load on the survivors.
One can only imagine the ripple: a Guatemalan dad separated from his kids, waiting months for a decision that might now come from a judge whose career was built on building walls, not weighing stories of persecution.
Critics, from the American Immigration Lawyers Association to rank-and-file court staff, warn this purge isn’t just thinning the ranks—it’s tilting the scales of justice.
“It’s not about efficiency; it’s about engineering outcomes,” one anonymous source told Reuters, which also reported on a related bias lawsuit this week.
The DOJ has stayed mum, leaving the speculation to fill the void.
As the new year looms, with Trump’s deportation machine revving up, these firings feel like a harbinger.
Will more judges fall? Will courts grind to a halt?
For the thousands navigating this labyrinth, the answer might determine whether they build a life here or board a plane home.
In the shadow of 26 Federal Plaza, the gavel’s echo just got a lot quieter—and a lot more ominous.
Also Read: A DOJ Whistleblower Now Makes Revelation That Undermines the Judicial System’s Integrity
