Trump Immigration Judges Pushed to Deny Asylum: The Brief

Officers move through the New York Federal Plaza Immigration Court in December 2025. Photographer: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images

DOJ’S NEWLY MINTED immigration judges are being told to mostly deny asylum claims as part of the Trump administration’s broader detention and deportation agenda, Celine Castronuovo reports.

• DOJ Board of Immigration Appeals judges and others told three dozen new judges trained in October that asylum should be granted only in rare circumstances, according to people familiar with the training. Another group of judges is completing training and scheduled to be sworn in tomorrow.
• The training involves roughly two weeks of classroom instruction, plus at least a week at an assigned court. Former judges say that’s not enough time to adequately ...