Indian-origin immigration judge Roopal Patel was axed by the Trump administration after blocking a high-profile deportation case involving a pro-Palestinian student.Patel was among six immigration judges terminated on Friday by the GOP administration. Her dismissal, alongside that of fellow judge Nina Froes, comes amid claims that judges are being pressured to favour deportations and reject asylum applications.Unlike federal judges, immigration judges operate under the Justice Department (DOJ) and can be hired or fired by the attorney general. Patel was appointed in 2024 and was nearing the end of a two-year probationary term when she was removed from her post.Her firing followed a ruling in January in which she found no legal grounds to deport Rumeysa Ozturk. Ozturk was a Turkish-born student whose visa had been revoked after she criticised her university’s stance on Palestinian issues in a student newspaper. Froes also dismissed the deportation case against Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student and green card holder linked to anti-Israel campus protests.Both students had been detained by immigration authorities to crack down on international students who had voiced support for Palestinian causes. The GOP administration had labelled several such protests as antisemitic.MAGA officials, including US secretary of state Marco Rubio, argued that Mahdawi’s continued presence in US could “potentially undermine” US foreign policy. However, civil liberties groups say the arrests and deportation attempts were aimed at suppressing free speech.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has challenged the decision in Ozturk’s case and said it will keep trying to deport Mahdawi.Patel said the administration’s expectations were clear. “It was a pressure I at least tried to actively resist,” she said in an interview. “All people in the United States are entitled to due process, and everyone deserves to have their cases adjudicated fully and fairly.”Froes was in the middle of an asylum case when she was told she had been dismissed and had to stop the hearing. Later, she wondered if her decision in the case had affected her dismissal. “I don’t know what’s in the minds of other people,” she said. “But I can’t imagine it was helpful.”The Trump administration has already dismissed more than 100 immigration judges since returning to office, while appointing over 140 new judges viewed as more aligned with its strict and conservative immigration agenda. At the same time, more people are being ordered to leave the country than ever before, fewer asylum requests are being accepted, and cases are being decided more quickly. The large backlog of cases built up under the previous government has also started to come down.The New York Times reports that Patel and Froes granted asylum at higher rates than the national average.
