As Trump Purges Immigration Judges, One Speaks Out
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily.
Throughout his second term, President Trump has been blocked over and over by federal courts, except, that is, for a little-known court system that oversees immigration. Today, my colleague, Nicholas Nehemas, brings us the inside story of how the president has systematically pressured the judges in that system to carry out his agenda and speaks with one of those judges about the fallout. It's Tuesday, June 23rd. Nick, welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me.
Nick, talk for a moment about why in this moment you decided to spend so much time reporting on the judges of the United States immigration court system.
Well, I think that when most Americans think about President Trump's immigration crackdown, they picture the shock and awe campaign that dominated the headlines for months. The images of federal agents being sent into U.S. cities to do mass raids and arrest as many immigrants as possible.
Right. Generated a huge amount of outrage, consumed the country for weeks.
Exactly. But what we found is that while that was sucking up most of the attention, the administration was also engaged in a quieter, much more meticulous overhaul of a hugely consequential part of the immigration system. And that's the immigration court system. Hmm. That's basically the process that decides an immigrant's fate and can order them removed from the country.
Or decide to keep them in the country.
Yes, right. And our reporting shows that the Trump administration's strategy for overhauling the immigration court system has been extremely effective. And it's essentially turned the courts and immigration judges in particular into their number one tool for achieving mass deportations.
Well, just describe the immigration court system and how it works and how that maybe explains why the administration has been able to so fundamentally change it and turn it into an instrument of mass deportation.
Yeah. So first off, it's really important to understand that immigration courts work completely differently than how we think about, say, criminal courts. If you cross the border illegally and you're detained, whether that's inside the country or at the border, you get a court date. And on that date, you have to show up to immigration court and make the case for why you should be allowed to stay in the country, why you qualify for some sort of legal protection like asylum. And you're not guaranteed a lawyer. So if you can't afford one, you're there on your own arguing your own case. And who you're arguing against is the federal government, which acts as the prosecutor trying to deport you. and there's no jury so the person overseeing the whole process weighing all the evidence and making the final decision about whether someone should be deported or not is the immigration judge and what's so unique about this system is that the courts and the judges are not part of the judicial branch they are part of the executive branch so although they wear robes they're called judges
Ultimately, they are employees of the executive branch, and they report up to the attorney general, and by extension, up to the president.
Which is fascinating, because when we think of federal judges, we tend to think of Supreme Court judges, appeals court judges. They are, by design, isolated from political pressures because they have lifetime appointments, within the judicial branch and become essentially unfireable. They get appointed by the executive branch, but then they live outside of it in the judicial branch.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–5:11
2
What pressures did President Trump place on immigration judges?
5:11–16:39
3
How does the immigration court system function differently from criminal courts?
16:39–36:57
4
What challenges do immigration judges face under the Trump administration?
36:57–37:29
Speakers
7 identifiedMore from The Daily
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