Overview
- An investigation quoted more than two dozen immigration judges who say they were pushed to order removals or risk discipline or losing their jobs.
- The Justice Department removed about 100 of roughly 750 judges and then installed about 143 permanent and temporary replacements drawn from DHS prosecutors and military lawyers.
- Judges report directives from the immigration court agency to grant government motions to dismiss cases and to deny bond to people who crossed the border illegally.
- Asylum approvals have plunged to record lows, with fewer than 10% of claims approved in February and new appointees granting about 6% compared with 46% among judges later removed.
- The U.S. attorney in Manhattan said his office wrongly defended an ICE memo on courthouse arrests, and immigrants have been seized in court hallways and sent to distant detention centers.