CLEVELAND, Ohio — As part of its efforts to reduce the size of the federal government, the Trump Administration has dismissed more than a dozen federal immigration judges, including one here in Cleveland.
This move comes at a time when immigration courts are facing a backlog of over 3 million cases.
Brian Hoffman is an immigration attorney who usually gives his clients a timeline of when a judge will hear their case, but that has changed.
“You really can't even give your client a reasonable expectation, because you could get a 2027 date that ends up just being a parking lot date that will later be changed,” Hoffman said.
Dozens of his clients were set to go before an immigration judge who no longer works for the federal government.
“This is a case that was on Judge Nemer’s docket; we thought we had a hearing date for 2027, but now there's no future date that appears,” Hoffman said, showing News 5 the empty docket.
Judge Tania Nemer was appointed a federal immigration judge in Cleveland in December 2023. However, sources told us she was a part of federal workforce cuts on Feb. 5. The Hudson resident was still in her two-year probationary period.
On the US Department of Justice's website on Feb. 5, Nemer was listed as one of 13 federal immigration judges in Cleveland, but a week later, her name was removed.
“It was heartbreaking to think that a judge who is doing her best to deal with this enormous backlog and has been tackling cases one after another is all of a sudden let go,” said Hoffman.
These judicial layoffs come as the Congressional Research Service reports a growing backlog of 3.6 million immigration cases, including asylum seekers, bond hearings, status adjustments and others.
We asked Sen. Bernie Moreno about the layoffs. He believes more judges don't need to be hired, instead the review process should be sped up to 180 days.
"Expedited review of actual asylum seekers, but those people have to come through a legal port of entry, can't cross illegally, and have to stay in their home country before their case is adjudicated. I think that will dramatically reduce by like 80, 90%, 95% of the caseload, so we don't have to go out and hire a bunch of more judges," Moreno said.
Hoffman said that with more cases, there are fewer immigration attorneys and now fewer judges.
“It does not make any sense to me to be eliminating adjudicator positions when we have this enormous and growing backlog,” Hoffman said.
For immigration attorneys like Hoffman, the uncertainty is growing, making it even more challenging to give their clients a clear idea of the future.
“I have a family right now from Guatemala with what I would say is a winning asylum claim. They were supposed to go to trial in 2027 before Judge Nemer. And I now have no idea when that case will go to trial, who it will be scheduled in front of, and what the state of the law will be when we get to that date,” Hoffman said.
