"Amiena Khan was supposed to have the day off that December. But, in a supervisory role at an immigration court, "you never really are on leave," she said. So Khan was working mostly on performance evaluations for the 36 immigration judges and dozens of staff members she oversaw at the court in Manhattan's 26 Federal Plaza. At 11:29 a.m., while in the middle of a meeting, Khan received the email she had been dreading for months: she had been fired."
"While Khan's firing was upsetting, she said it wasn't altogether shocking. The Trump administration fired nearly 100 judges in 2025. The dismissals were part of a larger push by the Trump administration to reshape America's immigration courts. The number of judges in the nation's immigration courts shrunk by about a quarter in the last year due to firings and resignations even when accounting for new hires. Twelve immigration courts have lost over half of their judges."
Amiena Khan, an assistant chief immigration judge in Manhattan, received an email terminating her employment during a meeting, and several judges she supervised were also fired. The Trump administration dismissed nearly 100 immigration judges in 2025 as part of a push to reshape immigration courts. The nationwide number of judges fell by about a quarter in a year due to firings and resignations, with twelve courts losing over half their judges and two courts having no judges. EOIR lost over 400 legal assistants, attorney advisers and administrative specialists, producing depleted morale, mounting backlogs and weakened due process.
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