When Judges Get Fired for Their Rulings, the Justice System Is Dead. Restore It

Rumeysa Ozturk wrote an op-ed in her student newspaper at Tufts. Masked agents arrested her. The government’s own investigation found no evidence she supported terrorism. In January 2026, Judge Roopal Patel reviewed the case and ruled there were no grounds for deportation. On April 11, the DOJ fired her. Mohsen Mahdawi is a Columbia student and green card holder. He was detained right after his citizenship interview. In February 2026, Judge Nina Froes reviewed the evidence and dismissed the case. On April 11, the DOJ fired her too. Neither judge broke the law. They applied it. That is what judges exist to do. Since January 2025, 113 immigration judges have been removed. The DOJ now calls their replacements “deportation judges.” In 2026, asylum approval rates dropped to under 10%. Under Biden the average was 42%. The cases didn’t change. The judges did. The Department of Justice exists to uphold the law on behalf of the American people. It does not exist to serve the president’s agenda. Judges are not employees who take direction from the White House. They weigh evidence, apply the law, and make independent decisions. That is the foundation of due process. When judges get fired for rulings the president doesn’t like and replaced with hand-picked loyalists instructed to deport, the DOJ stops being a justice system. It becomes an enforcement arm. Former judge Carmen Maria Rey Caldas, fired in August 2025, said the administration is “firing judges it perceived as being opposed to the stated goal to deport as many people as possible with the least amount of due process possible.” In a democracy, that sentence should be unthinkable. Pass legislation requiring cause and due process before any immigration judge can be removed. Move immigration courts out of the DOJ and into an independent agency, as legal experts have recommended for decades. Prohibit retaliation against judges for their rulings. The DOJ belongs to the American people. Not to the president. If a judge can be fired for following the law, there is no law.