The Trump administration has reshaped a lesser-known corner of the Justice Department to set immigration policy and escalate detentions and deportations. The Board of Immigration Appeals, an administrative court within the Executive Office for Immigration Review, has published a body of immigration case law that significantly narrows due process and relief from deportation available for immigrants, an NPR analysis shows.
The White House accomplished this by shrinking the board from 28 to 15 judge slots and stocking the remaining positions with President Trump's appointees. Last year, their decisions backed Department of Homeland Security lawyers in 97% of publicly posted cases — at least 30 percentage points higher than the average from the previous 16 years.
What the Left Is Saying
Former board judges and immigrant rights attorneys say the restructuring has gutted a crucial check on immigration court errors. Andrea Sáenz, a former board judge appointed by President Biden and terminated by Trump last year, said the board has an impact on immigration law that is much bigger than its size because it sets precedent for the whole country.
"We lose an absolutely crucial method of catching errors by immigration judges who are absolutely flooded with cases," said former board judge Katharine Clark, who was at the DOJ for over 15 years before receiving a reduction in force notice last year. "In this situation, mistakes are essentially inevitable."
Victoria Neilson, supervising attorney at the National Immigration Project at the National Lawyers Guild, said recent decisions "have formed the backbone for how immigration judges" are allowed to consider asylum and bond cases. She noted the board has issued several decisions making it "impossible or nearly impossible" for people to seek bond from immigration judges.
"If you give up everything to follow the rules and then suddenly the rules disappear, that seems very un-American," Neilson said.
What the Right Is Saying
The Justice Department says the changes are restoring integrity to the immigration adjudication system. A DOJ spokesperson said board decisions "reflect straightforward interpretations of clear statutory language" and that President Trump and the DOJ will continue to enforce the law as written to defend and protect the safety and security of the American people.
Under the leadership of Chief Appellate Immigration Judge Garry Malphrus, the spokesperson said the BIA is "now recommitted to following the law and fulfilling its core adjudicatory mission."
In the federal register notice announcing the reduction in force, the agency said a larger board wasn't more productive at reviewing more cases. "Although many factors may have contributed to this outcome—including organizational and administrative challenges—the data demonstrate that increasing the Board's size has not brought about the hoped-for increases in productivity envisioned by prior expansions," the notice states.
The administration has argued that streamlining the appeals process helps address a backlog that topped 200,000 cases as of the end of last year.
What the Numbers Show
The board published 70 decisions in 2025 — nearly as many as all publicly posted decisions under the Biden administration and the highest yearly total since NPR's analysis began in 2009. The number of immigration judges has also dropped by a quarter since the start of 2025, with at least 100 judges fired and more resigning or retiring.
In 2025, DHS won 97% of public cases brought before the board. The only exception in the past 16 years was 2015, when immigrants won more cases than the administration. Already in 2026, NPR has tracked 21 decisions with DHS winning all but one — the single case where the board ruled for an immigrant involved a person who had already been granted another protection from deportation and withdrew their appeal.
The board has issued at least three decisions limiting whether an immigrant can be granted bond to remain out of detention while their case proceeds. In the Matter of Yajure Hurtado case, the board ruled that immigration judges must deny bond and detain noncitizens who entered the country illegally. Immigration judges were instructed in January to defer to this precedent.
The Bottom Line
The Board of Immigration Appeals, once a technical appellate body that reviewed immigration judge decisions for errors, has become a central driver of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement agenda. With all 15 current judges appointed by Trump, the board is producing precedent-setting decisions at a record pace that narrow pathways for bond and due process.
Federal appellate courts are now weighing in on matters including the mandatory detention policy. A federal district judge blocked most of a proposed rule that would have shortened the appeal window from 30 to 10 days, calling it unlawful. The administration is likely to continue pursuing administrative changes through the board as legal challenges proceed.