SEATTLE — This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com
A Seattle immigration judge, Susana Reyes, is the latest of more than 80 immigration judges to be fired by the Trump administration since President Donald Trump took office.
Reyes received a termination notice on Sept. 19 while she was serving a two-year probationary period, according to The Seattle Times.
Seattle’s immigration court is now left with seven remaining judges who have more than 50,000 pending cases left on its docket.
Slew of immigration judges fired under the Trump administration
Of the more than 80 immigration judges fired by the Trump administration, 24 judges have been fired in September. Additionally, 60 more judges have been forced out of their positions or resigned.
There are now less than 600 immigration judges across the country to tend to approximately 3.8 million pending cases.
The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers union president, Matt Biggs claimed the judges that have quit are overwhelmed by the pressure from the Trump administration as it navigates a large scale deportation.
Biggs viewed the firings as counterintuitive to the deportation efforts, as less judges are now tasked with its goal of deporting as many illegal immigrants at increased rates.
The administration has previously called on the National Guard and Army Reserve lawyers to temporarily serve as immigration judges after firing dozens of existing judges across the country.
Reyes was hired during the Biden administration, and previously worked as an immigration lawyer in Texas.
The rulings Reyes delivered were not favorable towards immigrants, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. In more than 300 decisions made by Reyes, approximately 71% of her decisions denied asylum, significantly higher than the 57.5% national denial rate.
“She wasn’t granting a whole lot of cases,” said Seattle immigration lawyer Adam Boyd. “She treated us with respect. She seemed pretty fair.”
Seattle immigration lawyer, Brian Wolf, has not yet heard about what will happen to ongoing cases Reyes was a part of. Additionally, Wolf does not know whether new hearings will be held for previously opened cases, or if another judge will issue a decision after a review of the records.
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