Expansion of U.S. Immigration Courts Announced
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed a significant addition to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, welcoming 82 new federal immigration judges—the largest group ever brought on in the agency’s history.
This cohort, made up of 77 permanent judges and 5 temporary ones, highlights a strategic effort by the Trump administration to revamp the immigration court system. This includes replacing over a hundred judges who were removed from their positions. The new judges have a clear directive: to expedite deportation cases significantly.
With this latest appointment, the total number of permanent immigration judges hired since the start of the 2026 fiscal year in October 2025 has reached 153. This marks a record for judge appointments in a single year, underscoring the administration’s aggressive push to address the huge backlog of millions of cases.
“Today, we are onboarding the largest immigration judge class in agency history. This could only happen thanks to President Trump’s decisive leadership and commitment to securing our borders,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.
The expansion of the immigration court system is a key element of the Trump administration’s approach to enhancing operational efficiency and streamlining processes for deporting unauthorized immigrants.
This onboarding follows a thorough restructuring of the Executive Office for Immigration Review in the past year, focusing on eliminating backlogs and reorganizing personnel. When President Trump took office again in January 2025, the number of judges was over 700. By early 2026, that number had dropped below 600 due to strategic separations, retirements, and resignations, totaling at least 115 judges.
By bringing in a new class of well-qualified judges, primarily with experience in criminal prosecution and immigration enforcement, the administration is rebuilding the judicial bench to around 700 capable members ready to support its stringent policies.
This judicial influx has already shown promise in tackling the DOJ’s main goal of reducing the long-standing court backlog. According to the agency’s data, the pending caseload has decreased from nearly 4 million to under 3.53 million cases within just over a year of the second Trump term.
In his statement on Thursday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche emphasized the administration’s dedication to reestablishing an immigration judge corps focused on upholding the rule of law in the immigration system.
“This could only happen thanks to President Trump’s decisive leadership and commitment to securing our borders,” Blanche reiterated.
