Trump DOJ Recruits ‘Deportation’ Judges in Enforcement Effort

The Justice Department is seeking to stock the immigration court system with “deportation” judges, an informal title that nods to the Trump administration’s hardline enforcement agenda.

DOJ posted a recruitment ad Thursday telling prospective applicants they can “become a deportation judge” and “define America for generations.” The official job title, immigration judge, still appears on the application portal.

The informal rebranding highlights the administration’s focus on ramping up immigrant arrests and deportations in a nationwide campaign to boot out people in the US without authorization.

Immigration judges, who are DOJ employees, decide immigrants’ asylum cases and other claims for protection in the US and issue deportation orders.

The Trump administration has fired dozens of immigration judges this year and turned to military lawyers to fill the gap in the already backlogged court system.

The recruitment ad notes that those hired in courts across the US will have the power to “determine whether an alien has to leave the United States or gets to stay” and to “ensure that only aliens with legally meritorious claims are allowed to remain.” The pay range is almost $160,000 to $207,500.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted on X about DOJ’s recruitment effort Thursday, saying deportation judges are needed “to restore integrity and honor to our Nation’s Immigration Court system.”

Republicans provided more than $150 billion for immigration enforcement, including hiring immigration judges, in a massive tax and spending package Trump signed into law earlier this year.