Creative Commons 2.0
Here’s former Judge Kerry Doyle’s account of her recent firing by EOIR, as originally posted on LinkedIn. Notably, Judge Doyle is a widely-respected immigration expert, a “total pro,” with decades of professional experience, including both ICE and the private sector. In other words, she is exactly the kind of fair, “practical scholar” judge EOIR needs to carry out its real, even if disgracefully abandoned, mission of guaranteeing due process and fundamental fairness for all!
Happy Saturday! I truly hope all of you were able to spend some time with someone you love 💕 yesterday on Valentine’s Day—two legged or four 😉. Sadly, my day was a little more complicated. I was, via email, terminated by the Acting Director of EOIR as an immigration judge yesterday, February 14, 2025.
I had not publicly posted that I had started working as an IJ in the hope of keeping my head down and just getting to work and avoiding having a bullseye on me. Unfortunately, I was unable to avoid the political pink slip.
This firing occurred despite the fact that the Immigration Court currently has in the neighborhood of 3.5 MILLION pending cases and DOJ is asking Congress for more money to hire more people at EOIR! (Hint: don’t fire the people you already have!). This firing occurred despite the fact that among my peers in my court, I had the longest and most extensive experience in immigration law and had served both as a defense counsel representing immigrants, but also as the top immigration prosecutor as PLA with ICE. I therefore had a unique perspective and experience that I could bring to my work as an immigration judge.
Sadly, DOJ cancelled our training that was to take place Feb. 10-14 (irony!) for me and the others hired late last year or early this year in my “class.” They never rescheduled it and then fired me and the rest of the new class yesterday. A number of Assistant Chief Immigration Judges were also fired. I can’t say I was surprised this happened. I was expecting it, especially when I showed up in the notorious “DHS Watchlist” late last year.
Significant time and resources went into hiring all of us and the group had a diverse background including a number of former OPLA prosecutors, but what we all had in common is that we were hired—through a neutral system I will point out—during the Biden Administration. This firing was political.
Needless to say, I’m looking for a new opportunity so let me know if you have any tips! Thanks to everyone. We will persist. What you do matters!
Her urgent message to the NDPA is truer now than ever: “What you do matters!”
Thank you for your service to our nation and to our justice system, Judge Doyle! 🇺🇸👍🏼🎖️⚖️🗽
Here’s additional coverage forwarded by Debi Sanders: https://wtop.com/national/2025/02/justice-department-fires-20-immigration-judges-from-backlogged-courts-amid-major-government-cuts/
It was also covered by NBC national news, albeit briefly, in a segment about the wider firing of probationary civil servants.
⚖️ DUE PROCESS FOREVER!
PWS
02-16-25