Judges fired after blocking deportations of pro-Palestinian students
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- Six immigration judges removed in a single day after rejecting deportation orders.
- Rights groups warn of growing political pressure on US immigration courts.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has dismissed two immigration judges after they refused to issue deportation orders against students involved in pro-Palestine protests, according to media reports citing The New York Times.
Judges removed after rulings on student cases
The dismissals reportedly included judges Rupal Patel and Nina Frese, bringing the total number of immigration judges fired on Friday to six. The move has sparked criticism from legal and rights groups, who say it threatens judicial independence.
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The judges had previously halted deportation proceedings against two graduate students: Turkish doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk at Tufts University and Palestinian graduate student Mohsen Mahdawi at Columbia University.
They ruled that claims by the State Department, which argued the students posed a “foreign policy threat” due to their activism, were not legally justified.
Wider crackdown on immigration judges
Reports say more than 100 immigration judges have been dismissed out of roughly 750 since Trump returned to office. At the same time, about 140 new judges have been appointed, many with backgrounds in the Department of Homeland Security or military legal services.
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This restructuring has coincided with a rise in deportation rates and a sharp decline in asylum approvals, according to investigative reporting.
Debate over judicial independence
The dismissals have triggered a constitutional debate in Washington over the independence of immigration courts, which operate under the Justice Department and are part of the executive branch.
The administration argues the reforms are necessary to address a backlog of more than three million cases and speed up immigration decisions.
However, civil liberties organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), argue the changes amount to politicizing the judiciary and undermining due process for migrants and foreign students.
