MIAMI (AP) — A U.S. Army Reserve attorney detailed as a federal immigration judge has been fired after just a month on the job after granting asylum at a higher rate with the Trump administration’s mass deportation goals, The Associated Press has learned.
Christopher Day began hearing cases as a temporary judge at the immigration court in Annandale, Virginia, in late October. He was fired on Dec. 2, the National Association of Immigration Judges confirmed.
It is unclear why Day was fired. Day did not comment when contacted by the AP, and a Justice Department spokeswoman declined to discuss personnel matters.
But federal data from November show that he ruled at odds with the Trump administration’s stated goals on asylum issues.
Of the 11 cases he concluded in November, he granted asylum or other forms of relief that allowed immigrants to stay in the United States a total of six times, according to federal data analyzed by the San Francisco-based nonprofit Mobile Pathways.
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 fundamentally overhauling the nation’s 75 immigration courts.
As part of that campaign, the Trump administration has fired nearly 100 judges deemed too liberal and over the summer allowed any lawyer, regardless of their legal background, to apply for what recent recruiting ads refer to as “deportation judges.”
In response, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in September approved sending 600 military lawyers to try asylum cases. The goal, immigrant advocacy groups say, is to redefine the judge’s traditional duties as an impartial, independent arbiter of asylum claims that looks like a rubber stamp on the coattails of the White House’s mass deportation goals.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association has condemned the influx of military officers who lack expertise in immigration law, comparing them to cardiologists trying to replace a hip. But Pentagon and White House officials have defended the move, saying the drive to rule on pending asylum claims is what all federal workers — as well as immigrants who have sometimes been in limbo for years — must rally behind.
So far, only 30 members of the military have been detailed to immigration court, and most appear to have met the administration’s expectations. Nine out of every 10 immigrants whose asylum cases were heard by such judges in November were either ordered removed or requested to self-deport, according to federal statistics. Overall, military judges ordered removal 78% of the time, compared to 63% for all other judges.
But those like Day, whose decision bucked that trend, are especially vulnerable if they are found to have violated their military duties, said retired immigration judge Dana Leigh Marks.
“It’s hard to imagine someone being fired so quickly after five weeks on the bench unless it’s for ideological reasons,” said Marks, the former head of the National Association of Immigration Judges. “This is particularly unfair to military judges because they do not have the same civil service protections and can face serious consequences for failing in their assignments.”
The Uniform Command of Military Justice, which governs service members, prohibits senior military leaders from interfering with or retaliating against military attorneys for their actions in military tribunals. Army regulations also require JAG attorneys to proceed with candor and honesty as all licensed attorneys are expected to do in civilian courts.
But whether those standards apply to military lawyers acting outside the normal confines of military tribunals has not been tested.
Brenner Fiesel, a law professor at Villanova University, said there are many employee actions that can be taken — counseling or letters of reprimand — that, even if later found to be unfounded, affect their chances of promotion and affect their discharge. Appealing such decisions, he said, is a byzantine process that can take years and requires hiring expensive lawyers.
“The process can be punishing,” said Fiesel, who helps run the Orders Project, which provides counseling to military personnel who believe they have been 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 for the Federal Communications Commission during the Biden administration.
Unlike federal judges, who have lifetime tenure, immigration judges are employees of the Department of Justice, which runs the immigration courts, and can be fired by the attorney general with few restrictions.
That message was driven home in October during a two-week training course for new judges, including those appointed by the Pentagon, according to a person who attended the training on condition of anonymity to discuss private sessions.
The Pentagon has offered additional incentives to military officers who sign up for temporary details in immigration courts. Those volunteers were promised their choice of assignment, according to an email sent by JAG Corps leadership in the fall, a copy of which was shared with the AP. But if enough officers don’t come forward, officers may need to move six months away from home to fulfill the mandate, according to the email.
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Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker in Washington contributed to this report.
