Why Trump's changes to immigration courts will 'absolutely' ramp up deportations

President Donald Trump's mass deportation operation is expected to ramp up in 2026 as newly hired military lawyers-turned-immigration judges hit the bench and begin expeditiously reviewing a massive backlog of cases.

Speeding up the court process for immigration matters will, in turn, lead to faster decisions and more deportations, according to former immigration judge Andrew Arthur. At the same time, the Trump administration's new pick to oversee the immigration court system has moved to simplify the appeals process, reducing the options illegal immigrants have to appeal their deportation orders and shortening their time in the system.

The Trump administration's first year focused on identifying who to arrest, making those arrests, and obtaining funding to expand detention capacity. Arthur anticipates the addition of dozens, even hundreds of judges, will "absolutely" speed up the process in 2026, setting up more people — both in custody and who do not show up to their court dates — to be deported and ultimately removed from the country.