DOJ Calls on Legal Professionals to Sign Up as Deportation Judges

The government is offering a 25 percent base pay recruitment incentive for these posts.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem participates in a tour at the U.S. Coast Guard Station Charleston, in Charleston, S.C., on Nov. 7, 2025. Alex Brandon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is calling on legal professionals to join the administration as deportation judges to “restore integrity and honor to our Nation’s Immigration Court system,” Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said in an X post on Nov. 20.

The position, open at 70 locations nationwide, offers a salary of $159,951 to $207,500 per annum, Noem said, adding that there is potential for full-time remote work.

“The Trump administration has secured the southern border—but after four years of crisis, there’s still work to do. If you’re a lawyer called to serve, we need YOU to protect our borders,” Noem added.

The job will provide a recruitment incentive of 25 percent of base pay to first-time federal employees placed in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chelmsford (Mass.), Boston, Concord (Calif.), Santa Ana (Calif.), and Sacramento.

Individuals who join will “make decisions with generational consequences; ensure that only aliens with legally meritorious claims are allowed to remain,” the department said.

Moreover, judges have to “ensure adherence to the law; combat fraud and ensure those seeking to exploit vulnerabilities in our immigration system are not successful,” it said.

The deadline to apply to become an immigration judge is March 31, 2026, according to the job post.

Applicants must possess an LL.B., J.D., or LL.M. degree and must be an “active member of the bar, duly licensed and authorized to practice law as an attorney under the laws of any state, territory of the U.S., or the District of Columbia,” it said.

According to the DOJ, there are more than 600 deportation judges in the United States.

Job applications and recruitment at agencies tackling immigration have surged under the Trump administration.

On Nov. 7, DHS revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had received more than 200,000 applications after kicking off its “Defend the Homeland” recruitment drive on July 29.

In a Nov. 7 post on X, the Coast Guard announced it achieved “record-breaking” recruitment results for fiscal year 2025, having hit 121 percent of its active-duty target goal.

Citizenship and Immigration Services has received an “overwhelming” 35,000-plus applications since launching its hiring campaign on Sept. 30, DHS said earlier this month, adding that this was the “most for any position in agency history.”

Immigration judges are part of the executive branch and work under the Justice Department.

Court Challenges

The job call comes amid many judges at the federal and state levels countering the Trump administration’s policy decisions and forcing the federal government to adopt certain stances on immigration and law enforcement.

This has led the administration to term these judges “activists.”

On Sept. 5, District Judge Edward Chen prohibited the Trump administration from canceling the temporary protected status (TPS) of Venezuelan nationals living in the United States.

A TPS designation allows people from countries affected by natural disasters, armed conflict, or other extraordinary situations to remain in the United States.

The Trump administration appealed against the decision. But on Sept. 17, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declined to pause the district court’s ruling.

“Vacating and terminating Venezuela’s TPS status threw the future of these Venezuelan citizens into disarray, and exposed them to a substantial risk of wrongful removal, separation from their families, and loss of employment,” the appeals court said.

Similarly, on Nov. 19, another district judge blocked the Trump administration from terminating the TPS of more than 6,000 Syrians while a legal challenge proceeds in the court.

The administration argues that the TPS program has been overused and that many immigrants from TPS-designated nations living in the United States no longer merit protection since conditions in their home nations have improved.

In another setback, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Nov. 20 to end its deployment of National Guard troops in Washington.

President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Aug. 11 allowing such deployment, highlighting that the local D.C. administration had “lost control of public order and safety in the city.”

However, the federal judge ruled that Trump’s actions were not aligned with the U.S. Constitution and unlawfully interfered with the authority of local officials to control law enforcement in the region.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson disagreed with the ruling.

“President Trump is well within his lawful authority to deploy the National Guard in Washington, D.C., to protect federal assets and assist law enforcement with specific tasks,” she said.

“This lawsuit is nothing more than another attempt—at the detriment of D.C. residents—to undermine the President’s highly successful operations to stop violent crime in D.C.”

Regarding illegal immigrants, in an Oct. 27 statement, DHS said that more than 527,000 aliens have been removed from the United States under the Trump administration.