Former judges speak out on Trump admin’s immigration court purges
A CBS News Sunday Morning report by Ted Koppel examines the Trump administration’s restructuring of the U.S. immigration court system, which falls under the Department of Justice rather than the judicial branch. Over the past 14 months, more than 200 immigration judges have been fired, retired, or forced out, and former judges interviewed—including Ryan Wood, Anam Petit, and Jeremiah Johnson—describe a system reoriented around maximizing deportations, with judges sometimes removed mid-decision and given no explanation for their dismissals. The administration has launched recruitment campaigns explicitly seeking “deportation judges,” offering salaries above $200,000 plus a 25% bonus for sanctuary city assignments, and has filled gaps by deploying military JAG lawyers on six-month rotations despite the complexity of immigration law. Roughly 60,000 immigrants are currently detained—more than 70% with no criminal record—and about 30,000 have filed habeas corpus petitions claiming illegal detention without bond hearings. Asylum grant rates have plummeted from 31% a year ago to an all-time low of 5% as of February, prompting the former judges to warn that the administration is bypassing congressional statutes through executive power alone, undermining due process and the rule of law.