Trump fires 113+ immigration judges and installs military lawyers at EOIR

The Trump DOJ dismissed over 113 immigration judges from the Executive Office for Immigration Review by May 9, 2026, replacing them with former DHS prosecutors, military lawyers, and immigration officers. The Merit Systems Protection Board ruled in March 2026 that the attorney general can fire immigration judges at will, clearing the way for the purge. Two fired judges — including those who had blocked deportations of Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk and Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi — sued the administration, and the National Association of Immigration Judges called it a decapitation of the court system.