On April 13, 2026, the Trump administration fired immigration judges who had issued rulings blocking the deportation of international students targeted for their political speech. This is not ambiguous. Judges ruled the government had no legal basis to deport these students. So the government fired the judges.
The Judges
Judge Roopal Patel was an immigration judge in Boston. In January 2026, she ruled that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s revocation of Rümeysa Öztürk’s visa did not require her removal from the country. Öztürk, a Turkish-born Tufts University doctoral student, had been arrested in Somerville by masked immigration agents. Her crime: co-authoring an op-ed in a student newspaper that criticized Tufts’ response to Israel’s war in Gaza. Rubio personally targeted her.
Judge Nina Froes served at the immigration court in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. In February 2026, she blocked the deportation of Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian Columbia University student detained in the wake of campus protests against the war in Gaza.
Both judges were terminated on April 11. Both were serving within a two-year probationary period. As immigration judges under the Department of Justice, they were fired by the attorney general.
Patel and Froes were not isolated cases. According to the National Association of Immigration Judges, at least 113 immigration judges have been fired since Trump returned to office. The fired judges told the New York Times they had come under pressure from the administration to order more deportations. The immigration court system is being reshaped to produce one outcome.
What This Means
When a judge rules against the government and the government fires the judge, that is not immigration enforcement. That is the destruction of an independent judiciary. Immigration courts are already under the DOJ — they were never fully independent. But the explicit firing of judges who ruled “wrong” removes even the pretense of impartiality.
The message to every remaining immigration judge is unmistakable: rule the way we want, or you’re next. That’s not a court system. That’s a rubber stamp with a bench.
Sources
- WBUR: Judge Roopal Patel fired; ruled Rubio’s visa revocation of Öztürk did not require removal; Patel no longer on DOJ website; confirmed by National Association of Immigration Judges. April 13, 2026.
- New York Times: Six immigration judges fired including Patel and Froes; judges reported pressure from Trump administration to order more deportations; 113+ judges fired since January 2025. April 2026.
- Democracy Now!: Judges fired for dismissing deportation cases against students involved in pro-Palestinian protests; Öztürk arrested by masked agents; Mahdawi detained after Columbia protests. April 13, 2026.