Cuts come amid crisis at southern border
Trump-era immigration judge wants answers after being fired by Biden's DOJ
Judge Edwin Pieters speaks out after being suddenly let go by the Department of Justice despite satisfactory reviews.
More than a dozen immigration judges were fired on Friday, coinciding with President Donald Trump's promise to trim the federal workforce.
A union official told the Associated Press that 13 judges who were set to be sworn in, and five assistant chief immigration judges, were fired on Friday without warning.
The move comes after two other judges were dismissed this week, the AP reported. No replacements have been announced.
The Trump administration dismissed more than a dozen judges on Friday. (Donald Trump/Truth Social)
US IMMIGRATION BACKLOG REACHES NEW RECORD OF 3 MILLION PENDING CASES: REPORT
Fox News Digital previously reported the U.S. immigration court backlog surpassed three million pending cases.
Immigration judges currently average 4,500 pending cases each, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
The AP reported five top court officials were replaced by the Trump administration, including Mary Cheng, the agency’s acting director.
Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. (iStock)
TRUMP BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP EXECUTIVE ORDER BLOCKED BY THIRD FEDERAL JUDGE
In a memo released on Jan. 27, Sirce Owen, acting director of the Department of Justice, noted the Biden administration "severely undermined" core values of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).
"An effort to restore those values and to re-establish EOIR as a model administrative adjudicatory body is well underway," Owen wrote. "If all employees are willing to join that effort, then there will be no limit to what EOIR can achieve."
FILE PHOTO: A U.S. Justice Department logo or seal showing Justice Department headquarters, known as "Main Justice," is seen behind the podium in the Department's headquarters briefing room before a news conference with the Attorney General in Washington, January 24, 2023. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo)
The Trump administration on Thursday instructed agencies to lay off most probationary workers without civil service protection, the AP reported.
The International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, which represents federal employees, and the U.S. Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on Saturday.
Fox News Digital's Landon Mion and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Alexandra Koch is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Prior to joining Fox News, Alexandra covered breaking news, crime, religion, and the military in the southeast.
