Trump Expands Immigration Judge Ranks to Speed Deportations

The Trump administration sworn in 77 permanent and 5 temporary immigration judges—the largest class in DOJ history—as part of a broader push to speed deportations and overhaul immigration courts. The move follows a purge of dozens of judges and aims to restore efficiency, bringing the judge corps closer to 700 while the backlog of pending cases has been reduced from about 4 million to roughly 3.5 million since January 2025, though critics say the appointments threaten the courts’ impartiality and fairness.