Immigration judges union moves toward regaining authority

The U.S. Justice Department has dropped its opposition to reviving a union for immigration judges that had been stripped of authority during the final months of the Trump administration.

In November, the Federal Labor Relations Authority ruled that the nearly 500 immigration judges in the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review were management officials and therefore ineligible for collective bargaining rights. The Justice Department, under pressure from labor groups and Democrats in Congress, told the labor relations board in a brief filing Friday that it no longer opposed efforts by the National Association of Immigration Judges to regain its authority.