Congress for years backed additional immigration judges to address a yearslong backlog of deportation and asylum cases, but the sharply different views of two of the newest members of the Senate Homeland Security panel show a consensus on that approach has fractured.
Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said in an interview about joining the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee there are more than 3 million pending cases and only about 680 immigration judges who “would not be able to get through that backlog in a decade.”
Kim said he brought up the strategy of adding more immigration judges with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem prior to her confirmation to “try to get a sense of whether or not we can keep that on the table as something that we can engage on.”
But Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said in a separate interview that he will push for legislation he introduced to limit asylum claims and “save a fortune not having to go out hiring hundreds of judges.”
“I think that’s a typical Washington, D.C., fix, which says, ‘Let’s spend a lot more money dealing with the problem instead of fixing the root cause of the problem,'” Moreno said.
Congress over the past decade has provided funding for additional immigration judges and support staff at a cost of around $1 million each to boost the overall capacity of the asylum and deportation system. The number of immigration judges more than doubled between 2017 and 2024 to around 700, according to the Justice Department.
Both Republicans and Democrats during that time proposed an increase in judges when they controlled the appropriations process, and as part of bipartisan proposals on border security. An additional 700 immigration judges would be needed to fully clear the backlog by fiscal 2032, according to a July 2023 report from the Congressional Research Service.
Currently the backlog of asylum cases is estimated as 3.7 million systemwide as of late 2024, following the influx of migrants during the Biden administration.
Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, a Republican and one of the principals who assembled the most recent bipartisan border bill that included $440 million for more immigration judges, said Thursday the country is “going to have to have an increase in immigration judges.”
“It’s got to be in the right place, it’s got to be the right process as well,” Lankford said. “It’s not just a sheer number, but you’ve got to also have the right process. Some of them have to be cases that are actually handled telephonically, if I can use it that way, on the video conference and some on the onsite location.”
President Donald Trump, in the last year of his first term in 2020, asked Congress in a budget proposal for $106.6 million for an additional 100 more immigration judges and support staff as part of “robust enforcement” of immigration laws.
But the backlog has climbed, and in July 2024 a report on an appropriations bill in the Republican-controlled House concluded bolstering the number of judges, as the Biden administration requested, was an old way of thinking.
“It is an undeniable fact that years of continued investments in additional judges have abjectly failed to make any discernible impact on the immigration case backlog,” the report says. “Our Nation’s failing immigration court system is a direct result of the administration’s failure to control the border, not a lack of immigration judges.”
After pointing out millions of migrants were apprehended and released during the Biden administration, the House report concluded: “The lesson is clear: No amount of funding for new immigration judges can outpace the effects of an open border.”
Although the Trump administration has not yet made its budget proposal to Congress for fiscal 2026, it appears to be taking a different approach during Trump’s second term with the aggressive reduction of the federal workforce under the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.
Jamie Horowitz, a spokesperson for the National Association of Immigration Judges, said Thursday that the Trump administration has removed a total of 28 individuals from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, consisting of 15 immigration judges and 13 managers.
As a result of those cuts, Horowitz estimated 10,000 cases won’t be heard in 2025. And yet to be announced, Horowitz said, is the departure of another 20 immigration judges who elected to take the “fork in the road” buyout offered to federal employees. Horowitz said that reduction means 12,000 to 14,000 cases won’t be heard this year.
“So the Trump administration and the Trump campaign, which ran on enhanced immigration enforcement — they’re actually running in the other direction,” Horowitz said.
Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, a Republican and chair of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, brought up immigration judges and the backlog of asylum cases during a Senate hearing on Feb 12. Although she didn’t call for an increase in judges per se, Britt said the Biden administration created among immigration judges a “culture that was fostered of just not completing cases” and urged a top Justice Department nominee to look for ways to expedite processing.
Key components of Moreno’s bill, called the RULES Act, would require asylum-seekers to submit claims exclusively at legal ports of entry and prohibit the parole of asylum applicants into the United States, a system known as “catch and release.” The bill would also stop individuals from reapplying for asylum if their initial application is denied and would also bar any migrant found in the U.S. illegally from ever claiming asylum in the future.
Although Moreno said he would like to advance the bill through regular order, he added he’s “insanely impatient” and he may seek to force a vote on the legislation as soon as this week by seeking unanimous consent to advance the bill.
Moreno said that would force Democrats to explain why they’re opposed to the measure. As of now, Moreno said he has no Democratic support for the bill.
Moreno said that current law requires judges to adjudicate those cases within 180 days, but the reality is those take six or seven years to resolve.
“The true, valid number of people seeking true refugee status in America is probably in the thousands, and yet they’re waiting in line behind millions of people who are falsely claiming asylum,” Moreno said.
Kim conceded his opportunities would be limited in a Republican-majority Congress to take the lead on the legislation that would expand the number of immigration judges, but nonetheless was hopeful for bipartisan support, pointing to the unsuccessful bipartisan border bill in the previous Congress.
“Look, I know the Republicans control the majorities in the House and the Senate, so I’m not sure where they’re going to bring a lot of this through,” Kim said.
This report was corrected to accurately reflect the number of individuals removed from the Executive Office for Immigration Review.
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