CHICAGO (WLS) — The dismissal of immigration court judges in Chicago and across the United States is raising concerns as former adjudicators claim they were not provided with any clear reasons for their dismissal.
Two of these judges, recently let go, joined a press event on Monday organized by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, who highlighted the issue as a persistent “abuse of power” by the administration of President Donald Trump.
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Among the affected was a judge who previously led Chicago’s immigration court and had spoken with the I-Team earlier, revealing she was dismissed without any explanation after nine years of service.
This wave of dismissals is happening during a crucial period for the immigration system, as the Trump administration is prioritizing the expedited deportation of undocumented immigrants.
Advocates for immigrant rights argue that, in pursuit of this objective, the administration is neglecting the rights to due process for those applying for asylum or trying to remain in the U.S.
Immigration judges who once presided over those cases but have since been terminated share those same concerns.
“These baseless dismissals have greatly undermined immigration courts nationwide amidst rising detentions and stricter immigration enforcement,” stated former Chicago Judge Carla Espinoza, who noted her dismissal on July 11.
After adjudicating immigration cases for Chicago’s court since 2023, Espinoza said she received her termination email while she was on the bench, presiding over her docket.
In the span of a few days, two more female judges got the same email from the Acting Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the division of the Department of Justice that oversees immigration courts.
Espinoza believes there’s a pattern in the judges who have been terminated that is not based on performance.
“We have seen that women and minorities have been disproportionately affected,” Espinoza said on Monday. “This clearly raises serious concerns about transparency, fairness and due process in our courts. I call for full transparency regarding our terminations.”
When Trump returned to the White House this year, 20 judges presided over Chicago’s immigration court.
As of Monday, according to the Justice Department’s website there are just 13 managing more than 221,000 pending immigration and asylum cases in Chicago’s court.
The federal immigration judges who’ve been benched are calling out what they see as targeting.
“I worry the EOIR has lost its mission,” said former Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jennifer Peyton.
After years leading Chicago’s immigration court, Peyton said the overburdened system she helped oversee is buckling.
“Since January 2025, I’ve watched my professional colleagues and friends, over 100 of them be either fired, resigned or transferred to other government jobs,” Peyton said on Monday. “Even more judges have simply quit. That leaves perhaps 600 immigration judges now down from a high of a little over 700.”
Peyton was fired weeks after a meeting with Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin at Chicago’s immigration court. Durbin has called her termination clear political retaliation.
“Judge Peyton’s termination is an abuse of power by the administration, punishing a nonpolitical judge for simply doing her job,” Durbin said. “Congressional oversight is not just our right, but my responsibility under the Constitution.”
The firings of immigration judges come at a time when the court system is still dealing with a massive case backlog.
According to the latest numbers from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, a nationwide backlog of more than 4.1-million immigration cases as of inauguration day has dropped to 3.8 million in just six months.
Those supporting stricter immigration enforcement point to this as a major win.
Immigrant rights advocates have argued this drop is in part due to the administration dismissing cases, in an effort to re-arrest individuals appearing for immigration court proceedings, and pursue expedited removal proceedings – an approach that can lead to a person being deported in as little as three days and is now being challenged in court, as the I-Team previously reported.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told the I-Team making arrests at immigration court is “common sense… Nothing in the constitution prohibits arresting a lawbreaker where you find them.”
The Executive Office for Immigration Review has declined to comment or answer the I-Team’s questions about the recent firings of immigration judges in the Chicago area.
In a policy memo issued to all judges a week after Trump’s inauguration EOIR’s Acting director said, “The past four years have severely undermined EOIR’s cores values,” and the agency is now working to re-establish those values.
Peyton believes the court system she joined in 2016 is rapidly changing.
“Since January 2025, the immigration courts under EOIR are no longer honoring or offering due process like they did when I was appointed,” Peyton said. “The court system has been systematically and intentionally destroyed, defunded and politicized by this administration. I don’t know why this has happened, but I fear for our country and for justice.”
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