The Trump administration has begun referring to immigration judges as "deportation judges" in a recruitment push to hire more officials to carry out the president's mass deportation campaign.

"If you are a legal professional, the Trump Administration is calling on YOU to join @TheJusticeDept as a Deportation Judge to restore integrity and honor to our Nation’s Immigration Court system," Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on X.

The online rebranding was also present on the website of the Justice Department, which oversees the nation's immigration court system through the Executive Office for Immigration Review: "Help write the next chapter of America. Apply today to become a deportation judge and you may be entitled to these benefits."

It's unclear whether the DOJ has or will formally rename the title of immigration judges.

In an unsigned email to USA TODAY, the agency blasted the Biden administration and said it's "restoring integrity to our immigration system." The statement added that the DOJ "encourages talented legal professionals to join in our mission to protect national security and public safety.”

Immigration judges hear the cases of noncitizens who the federal government seeks to deport, and they decide who stays and who goes. Most of the cases they hear are asylum applications.

In President Donald Trump's first month back in office, his administration fired several top officials in the Executive Office for Immigration Review, a move widely seen a push to install officials aligned with the administration's policy vision.

Since then, dozens of immigration judges across the country have been removed from their post, according to International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, a labor union representing immigration judges.

Now, the DOJ is making a visible push to fill vacant immigration judge positions, offering salaries between $159,951 and $207,500, and a cash incentive for those in cities such as New York, Boston and San Francisco. A similar effort is unfolding at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Both the DOJ's Executive Office of Immigration Review and ICE were flooded with billions of dollars allocated by Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," which was signed into law in July.

As the Trump administration has fired judges and court officials, immigration courthouses themselves have faced increased scrutiny as they've been a major site of immigration arrests, with masked agents detaining migrants attending their scheduled hearings.

Observers and legal experts say this effort has caused more migrants to skip out on immigration court proceedings, scared away from the legal immigration process by the aggressive federal crackdown.

Contributing: Eduardo Cuevas

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump administration is hiring 'deportation judges,' Noem says

Reporting by Christopher Cann, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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