Scholarship@WashULaw
How the Trump Administration’s Quota Policy Transformed Immigration Judging
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
Publication Title
American Political Science Review
Abstract
The Trump administration implemented a controversial performance quota policy for immigration judges in October 2018. The policy’s political motivations were clear: to pressure immigration judges to order more immigration removals and deportations as quickly as possible. Previous attempts by U.S. presidents to control immigration judges were ineffective, but this quota policy was different because it credibly threatened judges’ job security and promotion opportunities if they failed to follow the policy. Our analysis of hundreds of thousands of judicial decisions before and after the policy’s implementation demonstrates that the quota policy successfully led immigration judges to issue more immigration removal orders (both in absentia and merits orders). The post-policy change in behavior was strongest among those judges who were less inclined, pre-policy, to issue immigration removal decisions. These findings have important implications for immigration judge independence, due process protections for noncitizens, and presidential efforts to control the federal bureaucracy.
Keywords
Immigration Courts, Judicial Behavior, Immigration Judges, Bureaucracy, Trump Administration, Policy Implementation, Deportation, Quota Policy
Publication Citation
Christina L. Boyd et al., How the Trump Administration’s Quota Policy Transformed Immigration Judging, 118 Am. Pol. Sci. Rev. 1688 (2024)
Repository Citation
Boyd, Christina L.; Blasingame, Elise; Carlos, Roberto F.; and Ornstein, Joseph T., "How the Trump Administration’s Quota Policy Transformed Immigration Judging" (2024). Scholarship@WashULaw. 820.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_scholarship/820