MIAMI (AP) — A U.S. Army Reserve attorney detailed as a federal immigration judge has been fired barely a month after granting asylum at a high rate that falls short of the Trump administration’s mass deportation goals, The Associated Press has learned.
Christopher Day began hearing cases in late October as a temporary judge at the immigration court in Annandale, Virginia. He was fired around Dec. 2, the National Association of Immigration Judges confirmed.
It is unclear why Day was fired. Day and the Pentagon did not comment when contacted by the AP, and a Justice Department spokeswoman declined to discuss personnel matters.
But federal data from November show he has ruled on asylum cases in a way at odds with the Trump administration’s stated goals.
Of the 11 cases he closed in November, he granted asylum or other relief allowing the migrant to remain in the United States a total of six times, according to federal data reviewed by Mobile Pathways, a San Francisco-based nonprofit.
Such favorable outcomes for immigrants have become increasingly rare as the Trump administration seeks to reduce a massive backlog of 3.8 million asylum cases by overhauling the nation’s 75 immigration courts.
As part of that effort, the Trump administration fired nearly 100 judges deemed too liberal and over the summer eased the rules, allowing any lawyer, regardless of their legal background, to apply to become what recent job postings refer to as a “deportation judge.”
In response, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in September approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to hear asylum cases. The goal, migrant advocacy groups say, is to redefine the judge’s traditional duties as a fair and independent arbiter of asylum claims into something akin to a rubber stamp in a coattails for the White House’s mass deportation goals.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association has condemned the influx of inexperienced military officers in immigration law, likening them to cardiologists trying to do a hip replacement. But Pentagon and White House officials defended the move, saying a campaign to rule on pending asylum claims is something all federal workers — as well as migrants sometimes in limbo for years — should rally around.
So far, only 30 members of the military have been detailed to immigration courts, and for the most part, they appear to have lived up to the administration’s expectations. According to federal data, nine out of ten migrants whose asylum cases were heard by such judges in November were either removed or asked to self-deport. Overall, military judges ordered dismissal 78 percent of the time, compared to 63 percent for all other judges.
But those like Day, whose rulings bucked that trend, are especially vulnerable if they are found to have violated their military duties, said Dana Leigh Marks, a retired immigration judge.
“It’s hard to imagine anyone being fired so quickly after five weeks on the bench, unless it was for ideological reasons,” said Marks, the former head of the National Association of Immigration Judges. “It’s especially unfair to military judges because they don’t have the same protections in the civil service and could face serious consequences if they don’t fulfill their duties.”
The Uniform Code of Military Justice, which governs service members, prohibits senior military leaders from interfering with or retaliating against military lawyers for their actions in a military court. Army regulations also require JAG attorneys to proceed with candor and honesty, as should all licensed attorneys in civilian courts.
But whether these standards apply to military lawyers working outside the normal confines of a military court is not tested.
Brenner Fissell, a law professor at Villanova University, said there are a number of personnel actions that can be taken — letters of advice or reprimand — that, even if later proven unfounded, would hurt someone’s promotion potential and impact their release. Appealing such decisions, he said, is a byzantine process that can take years and require the hiring of an expensive attorney.
“The trial can be a punishment,” said Fissell, who helps run the Commands Project, which helps counsel military personnel who believe they are being asked to carry out illegal orders.
A graduate of American University Law School, Day has held several jobs in the federal government over the past two decades while simultaneously serving as a lieutenant colonel in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve. His last job was as a lawyer at the Federal Communications Commission during the Biden administration.
Unlike federal judges, who serve for life, immigration judges are employees of the Justice Department, which runs the immigration courts, and can be fired by the attorney general with less restraint.
The message was driven home during a two-week training course held in October for new judges, including those appointed by the Pentagon, according to someone who attended the training on condition of anonymity to discuss the private sessions.
The Pentagon has offered additional incentives to military officers who sign up for temporary immigration court details. Those volunteers were promised their choice of assignments, according to an email sent by JAG Corps leadership in the fall, a copy of which was distributed to the AP. But if not enough officers showed up, the officers could be forced to move up to six months away from home to fulfill their mandate, according to the email.
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Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker in Washington contributed to this report.