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DOJ fired two more Chicago immigration judges who had the bench's lowest removal-order rates

The Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review fired Chicago immigration judges Eva Saltzman and Elizabeth Crites on July 30, 2026, continuing a wave of firings, resignations, and buyouts from the Chicago bench that the National Association of Immigration Judges calls a "purge." A Chicago Tribune data analysis found the two judges had the two lowest rates, among Chicago judges who concluded at least 50 cases that month, of issuing removal orders, as the court has become the national leader in deportation orders. EOIR declined to comment on personnel matters; NAIJ's executive vice president called the firings "without cause" and an attack on judicial independence.

Part of: Trump Administration Attacks on Judicial Independence

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Chicago, Illinois

Abuses documented

Actors

On July 30, 2026, the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review fired two more judges from Chicago's Immigration Court — Eva Saltzman, on the bench since 2016, and Elizabeth Crites, since 2021 — continuing what the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ) called a "purge" that began in January 2025 and included another Chicago judge fired in June 2026. Saltzman learned of her termination by email in the middle of a hearing; Crites confirmed her firing by phone but declined further comment. EOIR, which administers the nation's immigration courts as part of the Justice Department, said it does not comment on personnel matters.

Chicago's immigration court has become the national leader in deportation orders under Trump-administration pressure to clear a case backlog exceeding 3 million, issuing more than 125 removal orders a day this year compared with roughly 35 a day in the final year of the Biden administration. A Chicago Tribune data analysis, using Justice Department data obtained by the research group Deportation Data Project, found that among Chicago judges who concluded at least 50 cases in June 2026, Saltzman and Crites had the two lowest rates of issuing removal orders — Saltzman with just 33 removal orders that month, the fewest of the group, and Crites closing roughly a fifth of her cases without a removal order. Both judges attributed the pattern to their assigned dockets rather than any agenda: Saltzman heard cases from the detained docket, which tends to draw claims self-selected for a stronger chance of relief, and Crites handled the court's juvenile cases.

NAIJ's executive vice president, Jeremiah Johnson — himself a recently terminated immigration judge — called the dismissal of "experienced immigration judges without cause" "another example of the attack on the independence of our immigration courts." Saltzman said she had long anticipated that continuing to apply the law "the way I've always done it," rather than aligning with the administration's push to cut the deportation backlog, "may result in my termination."

Why we recorded this

Judicial independence requires that adjudicators decide cases on the record before them without fear of losing their livelihood over how they rule. The Justice Department fired two Chicago immigration judges who a data analysis found lagged their peers in issuing removal orders, in what the National Association of Immigration Judges calls a bench-wide purge; the union's executive vice president called the firings "without cause" and an attack on the independence of the immigration courts. Removing judges distinguished from their peers by their case outcomes, rather than any identified misconduct, signals to the remaining bench that continued employment depends on ruling in the government's preferred direction, eroding the impartial adjudication this archive exists to protect.

Sources

  1. Two more Chicago immigration judges fired as court becomes epicenter of removal orders — Chicago Tribune primary accessed August 1, 2026
  2. 2 more Chicago immigration judges fired as court becomes epicenter of removal orders — The Spokesman-Review secondary accessed August 1, 2026

See also