A key part of the Trump administration's hardline immigration agenda is to deport immigrants without

legal status more quickly. But there's a massive backlog in immigration courts. And the Justice

Department has fired or not renewed the contracts of dozens of judges who decide whether individuals

should be allowed to remain in the U.S. Jimenez- Bustayo covers immigration policy for NPR, and she joins me now.

Welcome to the NewsHour.

Thank you.

So what do we know about what's behind the firing and the non-renewals of these dozens of immigration judges?

So last week, the Justice Department decided to not renew the contracts of 17 immigration

judges scattered across the country in states like Massachusetts, Illinois, Texas.

This continues the pattern of firing immigration judges as they reached their two-year probationary

mark.

So in total, about 65 immigration judges

have received an email that tells them that the Attorney General has decided to not keep them

on beyond their two-year mark. Immigration judges are not like a lot of other judges within

the judiciary branch that we normally talk about, think about them a little bit more like

civil servants.

They work under the Justice Department and technically are a bit more at will.

And is there any concern that there's something political about these firings or non-renewals?

Democrats have raised a lot of concern, particularly with this administration's approach to

dismissing so many judges.

So, again, that number is up to about 65.

During the last administration, the Biden administration, there were a few firings, I want to say,

...