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Trump administration fires Seattle immigration judge despite huge case backlog
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/trump-admin-fires-seattle-immigration-judge-despite-huge-case-backlog/The Trump administration has fired an immigration judge in Seattle, one of dozens ushered out this year despite a huge backlog that has some cases waiting for years to be resolved.
Seattle’s Susana Reyes, just shy of finishing her two-year probationary period as an immigration judge, received a termination notice Sept. 19 amid the latest of several waves of firings across the country, according to the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, the umbrella union for a national immigration judges association.
The administration has fired more than 83 immigration judges since President Donald Trump took office, 24 of them in September, according to their union. Roughly 60 more have been forced out or left of their own accord. That leaves fewer than 600 immigration judges nationally to hear roughly 3.8 million pending cases.
Union President Matt Biggs said those quitting are fed up with pressure from the administration, as it carries out a mass deportation effort, to dismiss cases — allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to bypass judges and detain immigrants — or issue rulings unfavorable to immigrants.
Seattle’s Susana Reyes, just shy of finishing her two-year probationary period as an immigration judge, received a termination notice Sept. 19 amid the latest of several waves of firings across the country, according to the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, the umbrella union for a national immigration judges association.
The administration has fired more than 83 immigration judges since President Donald Trump took office, 24 of them in September, according to their union. Roughly 60 more have been forced out or left of their own accord. That leaves fewer than 600 immigration judges nationally to hear roughly 3.8 million pending cases.
Union President Matt Biggs said those quitting are fed up with pressure from the administration, as it carries out a mass deportation effort, to dismiss cases — allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to bypass judges and detain immigrants — or issue rulings unfavorable to immigrants.
Yet another immigration judge was fired by the Trump administration, despite a backlog of 3.4 million cases nationwide.
— Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (@jayapal.house.gov) 2025-10-22T17:23:46.829Z
This is Trump taking aim at legal pathways to immigration, not targeting the ‘worst of the worst.’
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...