President Donald Trump has appointed James McHenry as the acting attorney general, as announced by the Justice Department. McHenry will hold this position until Pam Bondi, Trump's nominee for the job, is confirmed by the Senate. Additionally, Emil Bove, one of Trump's personal attorneys who represented him in criminal cases, has been named as the acting deputy attorney general.
McHenry previously served as the director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review during Trump's previous administration. In this role, he implemented various policy initiatives that impacted the handling of immigration cases by judges. These initiatives included changes to asylum standards and the introduction of quotas to increase the number of cases completed by judges annually.
In 2021, McHenry returned to the EOIR as the chief administrative hearing officer. In this capacity, he was responsible for overseeing administrative law judges who preside over cases involving undocumented immigrants employed in the United States.
