A former US immigration judge has warned that the US justice system is being bent to political will after the Donald Trump administration removed more than 100 immigration judges across the country since January 2025 and replaced many of them with military lawyers and political appointees. Speaking from Maryland, ex-judge David Koelsch and several other current and former judges say the shake-up amounts to a 'purge' that threatens the independence of the courts and the basic idea of neutral justice in America.
The alarm from inside the immigration courts follows a two-year drive by Trump's second administration to accelerate deportations and tighten control over legal decision-making. The policy, backed by Elon Musk's 'Department of Government Efficiency' (DOGE), has targeted judges viewed as too sympathetic to asylum-seekers, offered buyouts to others and shut down one of the largest immigration courts in the country. Those who remain describe a climate of fear in which granting bond or asylum can put a judge's job at risk.
