WASHINGTON (AP) — Seventeen immigration court judges have been fired in recent days, according to the union that represents them, as the Trump administration pushes forward with its mass deportations of immigrants in the country. “It’s outrageous and against the public interest that at the same time Congress has authorized 800 immigration judges, we are firing large numbers of immigration judges without cause,” said the union’s President Matt Biggs. AdvertisementImmigration court judges are also dealing with a massive backlog of roughly 3.5 million cases that ballooned in recent years. The union said that rather than speeding up the immigration court process, the Justice Department’s firings would actually make the backlogs worse. The union said that it can take as long as a year to recruit, hire and train new immigration court judges.
