The Justice Department swore in 82 new immigration judges in a single ceremony in Washington — 77 permanent and five temporary — the largest immigration judge class in the history of the department.
Most of the new judges came directly from ICE, federal prosecution or the military — not exactly judges inclined to slow things down — and the Justice Department has now hired 153 permanent immigration judges in fiscal year 2026 alone, the most ever in a single year. The pending caseload has already dropped by nearly half a million since Trump took office — and with 82 new deportation judges now on the bench, the left’s favorite tool for delaying removals just got significantly harder to use.