A United Nations Human Rights Council-appointed panel of independent experts on Thursday expressed serious concern that the removal of more than 100 immigration judges in the United States is eroding the independence of the immigration courts and the wider justice system.
Immigration judges, who are employees of the U.S. Justice Department, preside over deportation proceedings and hear requests from migrants seeking asylum and other protections from removal. In a public statement, the U.N. panel called on the administration to stop what it termed "the mass arbitrary removal" of immigration judges and to cease the increasing politicization of immigration adjudication.
An official at the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, or EOIR, responded by saying the agency maintains an ongoing evaluation of all immigration judges. That evaluation considers multiple factors, including judges' conduct and their impartiality. The official emphasized that "All judges have a legal, ethical, and professional obligation to be impartial and neutral in adjudicating cases. If a judge violates that obligation by demonstrating a systematic bias in favor of or against either party, EOIR is obligated to take action to preserve the integrity of its system."
The U.N. panel said the recent firings have raised questions that some judges may have been targeted because of perceived political affiliation, their professional background, or their adjudicative records. The experts warned that such targeting jeopardizes the courts' independence and warned of direct and significant consequences.
"These removals undermine the independence of the immigration courts and the larger justice system, and their consequences are immediate and severe," the panel said in its release, adding that it had communicated these concerns to U.S. authorities.
In its release, the panel also said it was troubled by what it described as a transformation of the immigration court system. It stated that the White House appeared to be shifting the courts "from a forum for independent, individualized adjudication into an instrument for implementing deportation objectives."
According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, more than 100 immigration judges out of roughly 700 have either been fired or pushed out since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025. The panel noted that these departures have reduced the number of judges available to handle an increase in cases as the administration increases arrests and deportations.
Several former immigration judges have filed lawsuits against the Justice Department alleging wrongful termination. The U.N. experts' statement, the EOIR response, the reported number of departures, the association's estimate of the judiciary's size, and the existence of litigation together frame the dispute over how changes in staffing are affecting adjudication capacity and perceptions of impartiality in immigration courts.