A congressman has slammed Donald Trump as “cruel” after the president fired two immigration judges whose opinions did not align with his administration.
Judges Roopal Patel and Nina Froes were fired on Friday. They had previously blocked the deportation of international students Rumeysa Ozturk and Mohsen Mahdawi. Four of the judges’ colleagues were also fired last week.
Ozturk and Mahdawi were arrested by ICE agents last year in a raid on international students who had supported Palestinian causes or been part of protests that the Trump administration saw as antisemitic.
Rep. Dan Goldman attacked the president for the latest firings in a video posted on X on Sunday.
“Donald Trump is purging immigration judges who aren’t rubber stamps for his cruel, inhumane mass deportation agenda,” the New York Democrat said, pointing out that more than 100 judges out of about 750 had been fired, with others who “refused to comply” with the administration’s wishes threatened.
The union representing the judges said that the dismissals occurred “without due process, cause or explanation.”
In his video, Goldman pointed out that the immigration courts are controlled by the Department of Justice, which means “hiring and firing” can be done at Trump’s direction.
“The ones who have been hired, which is about 130 plus, are almost all former immigration prosecutors with the Department of Homeland Security or military lawyers,” Goldman continued. “And in fact, the administration is advertising for these judges as deportation judges.”
Goldman said he had personally spoken to a number of judges who had lost their jobs. He said they had explained to him, “it was very clear that they were expected to rule in favor of the government or they were at risk of being fired. And in this case, they were.”
Froes told The New York Times that she could not be certain that her position would have remained secure if she had ruled against Mahdawi.
“I don’t know what’s in the minds of other people,” she said. “But I can’t imagine it was helpful.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Justice for comment.
The Times quoted a U.S. official, not authorized to speak publicly, who said six judges were fired last Friday, and four were probationary.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, of the American Immigration Council, called the latest firings “the death of due process.” He posted on X, “This is what it looks like when an administration wants to stack the deck against a fair day in court. The message that has been sent to every immigration judge is that if you ever rule against the administration, you will be fired.”
Reichlin-Melnick also pointed out that the Biden administration fired just six judges during their two-year probationary period, while Trump has fired more than 100.
Goldman, the Democrat Congressman for New York’s 10th District in the House of Representatives, has introduced the Real Courts, Rule of Law Act in an attempt to overhaul the way the immigration courts operate.
“My bill would fix this very, very critical problem,” he said. “It would move the immigration courts out of the executive branch, out of the Department of Justice, and create an independent branch of the judiciary.”
He said a completely neutral court would “stop Trump’s weaponization of our immigration system.”
Goldman noted that only 10 percent of asylum applications have been granted by the Trump administration. “We must pass this bill to stop this element of the absolute horrific immigration dragnet that Donald Trump has implemented.”
