The American immigration judges’ union is worried about the dismissal of several Trump-era judges from their jobs, Fox News informed.
They label the removals as “unprofessional” and in conflict with the Biden administration’s labor policy, and they warn of detrimental consequences on judge morale.
Several judges appointed in the latter stages of the Trump administration, whose two-year probation periods are now up, were reportedly removed last week, according to a report by Fox News Digital. At least one judge claimed that this was because they disagreed with the administration’s immigration policies.
The great majority are often transferred to a non-probationary role.
How many people were recently fired at the completion of their probationary terms was not disclosed by the DOJ.
The DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review declined to comment on staffing issues, according to a spokesman who talked to Fox News Digital last week.
There are 590 active immigration judges. According to the DOJ, career civil service personnel, including immigration judges, are evaluated purely on their performance, and the government that appointed them has no bearing on that evaluation.
However, in a letter to the EOIR that Fox was able to obtain, the National Association of Immigration Review is now asking for reviews of the decisions made regarding three judges who were recently fired “to help insure that they were taken in full accordance with the law and that the probationary evaluations comport with fundamental fairness and sound labor relations.”
The union claims that the letters sent to the judges don’t explain why they were fired beyond “performance and/or behaviour,” leaving the judges to infer their own motives.
The Washington Times broke the news of the letter first.
Unknown numbers of immigration judges who were appointed toward the end of the Trump’s administration and whose probationary period expired this year were fired, but Fox has been told that at least five of them have been done so. Other estimates place that number even higher.
The removal of the appointees, according to one ousted judge, Matthew O’Brien, may have been motivated by their past associations with conservative causes or status as Trump appointees. He also laid the blame for the complaints process’ obscurity on the fact that it allowed resentful immigration lawyers to lodge a complaint.
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