Democrats seek limits on who can serve as immigration judges amid mass layoffs
Source: NPR
December 3, 2025 5:00 AM ET
Democrats in Washington want to impose legal requirements on whom the Trump administration can bring in as temporary immigration judges, after the White House terminated at least a dozen tenured judges.
A bill introduced on Wednesday by California's Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Juan Vargas would authorize the attorney general to appoint temporary immigration judges that have served on appellate panels, are administrative judges in other agencies, or have 10 years of immigration law experience.
Such limits would preclude much of the administration's effort to authorize up to 600 military lawyers to be temporary immigration judges; as part of that move, the White House scrapped the requirement that temporary immigration judges should have immigration law experience.
The legislation was introduced after the administration fired at least 14 immigration judges in the last two weeks, according to the union that represents them, with many of those having been terminated after years of experience on the bench. Those layoffs add to more than 90 other terminations so far this year, according to a count kept by NPR and the union that represents immigration judges. The firings come as the administration seeks to reshape who serves on courts and makes decisions about which immigrants are allowed to stay in the U.S.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/12/03/g-s1-100085/immigration-judges-congress-democrats
Link to Sen. Schiff PRESS RELEASE - NEWS: Sen. Schiff, Rep. Vargas Introduce Bill to Prevent Inexperienced Temporary Immigration Judge Appointments, Close Loopholes Exploited by Trump Administration
Link to draft BILL (PDF) - https://www.schiff.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/MDM25L18_FINAL.pdf
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