Trump’s administration just fired two immigration judges who dismissed deportation cases against students advocating for Palestinian rights, and the move is already sparking major backlash. As reported by ABC News, the National Association of Immigration Judges confirmed the terminations of Roopal Patel and Nina Froes, both of whom had ruled earlier this year that there were no grounds to deport the students.
Patel had blocked the deportation of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University graduate student held in detention for 45 days, while Froes dismissed proceedings against Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student arrested right after his citizenship interview. These firings are part of a much larger pattern—113 immigration judges have been let go since Trump took office, with six of those terminations happening just this past weekend.
The timing of these firings is raising serious questions, especially since Patel and Froes were among the judges who had granted asylum at higher rates than their peers. Patel approved asylum in 41.5% of her cases, while Froes did so in 33%, compared to the overall average of 18%. Both judges had been appointed by the Biden administration in 2024 and were nearing the end of their two-year probationary terms.
It’s unclear whether their rulings in the students’ cases directly led to their firings, but the pattern is hard to ignore.
Rep. Dan Goldman didn’t mince words when he called the terminations a violation of “every basic due process.” On social media, he accused Trump of purging judges who refuse to be “rubber stamps for his cruel, inhumane mass deportation agenda,” noting that over 100 judges have been fired in just over a year.
This draws light to the broader reshaping of the immigration court system. Immigration judges work under the Justice Department, meaning they can be hired and fired by the attorney general, unlike federal judges who operate independently. That lack of independence has always been a point of contention, but Trump’s administration has taken it to another level.
Since returning to office, he’s aggressively pushed to speed up deportations and reduce asylum approvals, and the numbers reflect that shift. Deportation orders are at record highs, while asylum grants are at their lowest since at least 2009. The backlog of cases, which had ballooned under Biden, is finally shrinking—but at what cost?
The cases of Ozturk and Mahdawi are particularly telling. Both students were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last year after publicly supporting Palestinian causes or participating in campus protests that the Trump administration labeled antisemitic. Ozturk, a Turkish-born student at Tufts, had her student visa revoked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio after writing an article criticizing the university leadership’s stance on Palestinian issues.
Rubio claimed her presence in the U.S. could “potentially undermine” foreign policy. Mahdawi, a Palestinian green card holder at Columbia, was targeted for his involvement in protests. Civil liberties advocates have argued these arrests were an attempt to silence free speech, but the government moved forward with deportation proceedings anyway.
When Patel and Froes ruled against the government, they weren’t just making legal decisions—they were pushing back against a system that seems increasingly stacked against immigrants. Froes, who was in the middle of an asylum hearing when she got the email notifying her of her firing, said she wasn’t surprised. “I fully expected it,” she told reporters, pointing to the sheer number of judges who’ve been dismissed.
She also made it clear that she hadn’t even realized Mahdawi’s case was high-profile when she heard it. “You don’t go Google people’s names. That’s not how it works. You look at the record,” she said. Patel echoed similar frustrations, saying the administration had made it clear it wanted more deportations. “It was a pressure I at least tried to actively resist,” she said. “All people in the United States are entitled to due process, and everyone deserves to have their cases adjudicated fully and fairly.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has already appealed Ozturk’s case to the Board of Immigration Appeals, another Justice Department body that Trump has been reshaping. DHS hasn’t confirmed whether it’s appealing Mahdawi’s case, but said it would continue fighting for his “removal from the United States.”
Froes and Patel’s firings aren’t just about two judges losing their jobs. They’re a symptom of a system that’s being weaponized to enforce a specific agenda. Patel put it bluntly: “The judges there need more judicial independence.” Many experts agree, arguing that immigration courts should operate more like administrative courts that handle tax disputes, with protections from political interference.
Right now, that’s not the case. Judges are being fired for ruling against the government, and the message is clear: fall in line or get out.
Published: Apr 15, 2026 06:45 am