Immigration judges are akin to federal administrative law judges and work under the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) in the Department of Justice. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, our immigration services are sorely overburdened.

With the swearing-in of 14 new immigration judges on April 10, there are now approximately 316 immigration judges serving in EOIR. Those judges are assigned to 58 different immigration courts throughout the United States. The task facing those judges is enormous. According to the Transaction Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), the immigration courts had 542,411 pending cases through February 2017, or approximately 1,716 cases per immigration judge.

AG Sessions has announced the Trump administration will bring on at least 50 new immigration judges this year, and 75 next year. While this sounds like a sizable number, this increase in judges would only reduce the backlog from 1,716 cases to 1,230 cases per judge. There are 58 immigration courts throughout the nation, but because of this backlog, cases can take up to 6-12 months to have an initial calendar hearing.

Immigration judges are appointed by the Attorney General and are usually experienced immigration attorneys. The job requires extensive knowledge of US immigration laws which frequently appear to be contradictory and at the least extremely complex. Immigration judges earn in the neighborhood of $170,000 per year. They may be required to travel 50% of their time and may have to conduct hearings in prison settings. The duties of an immigration judge consist of master calendar hearings where they simply notify the alien of his rights, the nature of the charge, and may enter an initial plea. Judges also conduct bond hearings and hearings on the merits of the claims.

Hiring new judges is a good start to addressing the backlog, and perhaps will enable the EOIR to gain some ground in processing immigration cases. Some have suggested creating a corps of immigration magistrate judges in order to handle the more mundane duties of the job like master calendar hearings. Perhaps as the wheels of immigration get moving again, this idea may draw some attention.

Trump continues to be attacked from all angles, but he continues to make strides in this area that was a particularly important campaign promise. This area is not one where chaos appears to be in play. These moves will directly affect the chaos that Obama left behind.