All of Portland’s Immigration Judges Took Their Seats Less Than a Year Ago

All four of the immigration judges at the Portland Immigration Court have been in their positions for less than a year, according to records reviewed by WW. Each of their appointments was announced by the Department of Justice, but the complete overhaul of the bench has largely escaped public notice.

Two of them, who were appointed in April and May, are former government lawyers with little prior experience as immigration judges. The other two arrived in Portland’s court after becoming casualties of the Trump administration’s mass firings of immigration judges in other courts across the country.

WW examined the court’s makeup after National Public Radio reported in February that Portland had lost three of its four judges under the second Trump administration’s mass firings of immigration judges nationwide. In total, 202 judges who were working in February 2025 were not in February 2026. At least 100 of those judges were fired by the Trump administration; dozens more retired or resigned due to the federal government’s pressure on them to deport more people, according to NPR.

As of early June, however, Portland’s immigration court has four judges again: three permanent and one temporary. They’re part of a nationwide wave of newly appointed immigration judges replacing the old guard.

Multiple legal organizations have raised concerns about packing immigration courts with inexperienced appointees. Stephen Manning is the executive director of Innovation Law Lab in Portland, which last year represented asylum seekers arrested outside immigration courtrooms. He says the turnover on the court bench is part of a worrying trend.

“The immigration courts are supposed to be fair places for immigrants to have their cases heard,” he tells WW. “It is important that judges are qualified, capable, independent, and fair.”

The DOJ, which oversees immigration courts through its Executive Office of Immigration Review, began a hiring campaign in November 2025 for what it called “deportation judges.” It also removed the requirement that immigration judges have years of adjudicatory, litigation or immigration experience, opening the door for any attorney to decide immigration matters. A DOJ spokesperson wrote to WW, “Reducing the immigration court backlog remains one of the highest priorities for this administration. The Justice Department is restoring integrity to our immigration system by hearing cases fairly, expeditiously, and uniformly, in accordance with the law.”

Between late October 2025 and late May 2026, EOIR announced the appointments of 151 permanent immigration judges and 74 temporary immigration judges. On May 21, EOIR announced 77 of those permanent positions and five of the temporary ones at once—the largest single-day announcement ever.

Most of the temporary judges are military lawyers appointed by the Pentagon, NPR says. Previously, temporary judges were largely former immigration judges, experienced immigration lawyers and federal government judges.

At least two of Portland’s immigration judges seem to be part of this trend. Judge Ryan J. Clark was appointed as temporary judge in April 2026. He has no prior experience as an immigration judge or immigration attorney. According to EOIR’s appointment announcement, Clark was an attorney in the Social Security Administration in Montana beginning in 2015, and a judge advocate in Montana’s national guard beginning in 2024.

Judge Matthew Andrasko was appointed as a permanent judge on May 21, one of the 77 announced that day. Beginning in November 2025, according to EOIR’s announcement, he served as a temporary immigration judge in Salt Lake City and El Paso. Before that, he was a public defender and assistant district attorney in New Mexico, and an Air Force attorney advisor. According to EOIR, Andrasko continued his position as an Air Force lawyer during the time he was serving as an immigration judge in Salt Lake and El Paso.

Both of Portland’s other judges were caught up in mass firings at their previous courts. Judge Steven Caley was appointed to the Aurora Immigration Court in Colorado in February 2017, during the first Trump administration. But in 2025, the second Trump administration fired both of Aurora’s immigration judges. Caley was hearing cases in Portland by July 2025, according to The Oregonian, but it’s unclear when exactly he started.

Portland’s last judge, Michelle Slayton, was appointed to the San Francisco Court in February 2023, during the Biden administration. At the beginning of 2025, San Francisco’s court had 21 judges. But then the firings began. By March 2026, there were only two left. Twelve had been fired. The others had retired, been appointed elsewhere or asked for a transfer, according to San Francisco-based Mission Local.

Slayton was one of the latter. As her court emptied out, she requested to be moved to Portland, Mission Local reported. It’s unclear when, exactly, she started hearing cases in her new position.

EOIR declined to comment on Caley’s and Slayton’s starting dates.