Under Trump’s new rule, temporary immigration judges don’t need immigration law experience

The Trump administration has changed hiring rules to allow temporary immigration judges without any prior experience in immigration law. The Justice Department said the move will help clear a backlog of nearly 3.7 million cases pending in immigration courts.

The new regulation, issued last week, gives the Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, with approval from the Attorney General, authority to appoint lawyers as temporary immigration judges (TIJs) for six-month terms. Earlier, TIJs needed to have served as immigration judges, government judges, or practiced immigration law for at least 10 years.

“This rule will enable the Director, with the approval of the Attorney General, to staff the immigration courts with a sufficient number of well-trained and highly qualified judges to further reduce and ultimately eliminate the backlog of pending cases,” the rule said.


Immigration judges are part of the executive branch rather than the independent judiciary. Since President Donald Trump took office, around 100 immigration judges have left the system through firings or forced resignations, reducing the bench to about 650, according to the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, the union representing them.

The Justice Department said removing “categorical regulatory prohibitions” would allow officials to consider “highly qualified candidates” for TIJ roles. But critics say the change is aimed at pushing through the administration’s immigration agenda.

Elizabeth Taufa, senior policy attorney and strategist at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, told NBC News, “It’s part of the same pattern we’ve seen everywhere else. They are trying to remake the federal workforce in ways that, you know, they won’t receive any resistance to what the White House wants to do.”

Taufa also warned about the impact on fairness. New immigration judges typically receive six weeks of training, while TIJs will be hired for only six months. “Due process in immigration court is dubious on a regular day, and this is not a regular day,” she said. “So I think we are going to see a continued erosion of due process. I think we are going to see more folks with specific political bias that are hired in this role.”

The administration has advanced several measures to speed deportations, including directing judges to dismiss cases so immigrants can be detained immediately after hearings. It has also faced lawsuits over efforts that bypass some due process protections.

In Florida last month, Trump endorsed a proposal by Governor Ron DeSantis to allow National Guard Judge Advocate General Corps officers to serve as immigration judges at a new detention center in the Everglades, referred to as “Alligator Alcatraz.”