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The Trump administration this week onboarded more than 80 new federal immigration judges, in its latest push to expedite deportation cases and further its government-wide crackdown on illegal immigration, Justice Department officials said Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Justice Department, which oversees the U.S. immigration court system, swore in 77 permanent immigration judges and 5 temporary immigration judges, a group that officials described as the largest class of immigration judges in the department’s history.<\/p>\n
The additions come after the ouster<\/a><\/span> of dozens of immigration judges across the country by the Trump administration over the past year. When President Trump took office, the Justice Department had more than 700 immigration judges. By earlier this year, that number had dipped<\/a> below 600. Justice Department officials said the new class would bring the immigration judge corps back closer to 700 members.<\/p>\n Immigration judges decide whether noncitizens the government is seeking to deport should be removed from the U.S. or allowed to stay. Despite their title, immigration judges are not part of the independent judicial branch and are instead employees of the Justice Department, which runs dozens of immigration courts across the U.S., as well as an appellate immigration court.\u00a0<\/p>\n While they’re part of the executive branch, immigration judges are expected to be neutral, and not show bias towards noncitizens or the Immigration and Customs Enforcement lawyers seeking their deportation. Still, the Trump administration has publicly referred to them<\/a> as “deportation judges” in official job listings, calling on potential applicants in one ad<\/a> to “deliver justice” to “criminal illegal aliens.”<\/p>\n As part of its mass deportation campaign, Mr. Trump’s administration has sought to overhaul the country’s immigration courts, since, in many cases, immigrants have to be issued removal orders before being deported.<\/p>\n