The Trump administration won't stop firing immigration judges
December 12, 2025
3,960
435
21
11.52%
Search the Record
IndexedEvery word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
Mother Jones Episodes Around December 12, 2025
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
0:53Now PlayingThe Trump administration won't stop firing immigration judges
YouTube Description
as posted by the channelTrump is trying to reshape immigration courts to fit his mass deportation agenda.
In early December, the New York Times reported, eight judges serving on the bench at New York City’s 26 Federal Plaza—ground zero for courthouse arrests—were terminated. Among them was Amiena A. Khan, the court’s supervising assistant chief immigration judge.
As it removes seasoned judges with diverse backgrounds, the Trump White House is also working to replace them with adjudicators it expects will be more aligned with its anti-immigration push. Earlier this year, the administration eased the requirements to hire temporary judges with limited immigration law experience and started recruiting military lawyers for temporary assignments, a move legal experts have warned could undermine due process.
More recently, the official Department of Homeland Security account on X started calling on candidates to apply to join the bench to work under a new title: “Deportation Judge.”
Guests & Subjects Covered
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.