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The Trump administration's mass deportation effort has played out on numerous fronts since he took office in 2024 in dramatic ice sweeps of major American cities and the expansion of immigration detention.

But the administration has also been working to reshape the nation's immigration courts and dozens of immigration judges

across the country have been fired. What impact is this having on immigrants' right to do process?

Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Monday, April 20th,

2026. Here to share reporting and insights. I'm now joined by USA Today National Reporter Lauren

Villagran. It's always nice to have you on, Lauren. Thanks, Dana. Lauren, we've spoken with you

several times already this year on immigration issues, but this new story you have is specifically focused on immigration judges. In broad strokes, please share with me what the Trump administration is doing here.

Yeah, so the Trump administration's focus on the nation's immigration court system is really a

cornerstone of the president's mass deportation campaign. Dana, it's immigration judges who sign

the deportation orders that allow ICE to remove somebody from the United States. It's also

immigration judges who can grant asylum or other forms of immigration relief that can let people stay. So that's been a key focus for the administration.

Leaders within the administration, including Homeland Security Deputy Advisor to President Trump, Stephen Miller, have said that there are immigration judges

with political bias in favor of migrants and against the Department of Homeland Security.

The Department of Justice, which runs the immigration court system, has fired more than 100

judges over the past year. Another 50 to 60 have either been dismissed or departed.

And the administration is replacing those judges with temporary judges who are essentially

beholden to the executive branch and are only in place for six months at a time. You highlighted the story of one judge in

...