Unprecedented removals, detained dockets, and the limits of judicial review
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Two of the firm's founding attorneys — both former Immigration Judges — were interviewed in late 2025 on the state of the U.S. immigration court system.
Elizabeth Young, former Regional Deputy Chief Immigration Judge for the Western Region, spoke following immigration advocate meetings in Sacramento. She observed that the removal of more than 100 immigration judges during the first 11 months of the current administration is unprecedented, and that the loss of judicial capacity compounds an already significant backlog of immigration cases.
Ryan Wood, former Assistant Chief Immigration Judge supervising the Fort Snelling, Cleveland, Detroit, and Kansas City courts, was interviewed about local ICE arrest rates in Minnesota:
"There's a significant uptick in detained cases. There's functionally no relief available for a wrongful arrest. It's very difficult to sue the government in these situations."
He also noted that the trend lines on the Minnesota docket are diverging in opposite directions: "Detained cases are going up; the non-detained docket is going down."
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