Attorney General Pam Bondi pushed back Tuesday after being sued by a former immigration judge who claims she was wrongfully fired - the first legal challenge to the Trump administration's sweeping removal of more than 100 immigration judges this year.
The lawsuit, filed Monday by former Ohio immigration Judge Tania Nemer, accuses the Justice Department of discrimination based on sex, nationality and political affiliation. Its filing comes as the administration accelerates its effort to reshape the immigration courts amid record legal clashes over its border crackdown.
Speaking at a White House Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump, Bondi dismissed the discrimination allegations and highlighted the department's recent push against violent crime and drug trafficking in the face of numerous lawsuits.
"Most recently, yesterday, I was sued by an immigration judge who we fired," Bondi said. "One of the reasons she said she was a woman."
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"Last I checked, I was a woman as well," she quipped.
Nemer's lawsuit accuses the Justice Department of illegally violating her protections under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as well as her First Amendment rights to engage in political activity.
She is not the only immigration judge to be removed from her position under the Trump administration. Since January, at least 100 immigration judges have been fired or "pushed out" from their roles, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, a union that represents many of the judges.
Eight immigration judges were fired in New York City on Monday, The New York Times reported this week, prompting fresh concerns about the reduction in staff and ability to handle the caseload.
"I think what's happening in the immigration court system is very troubling," Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute and director of the office at NYU's law school, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
"People have always had doubts about the independence of the [immigration] court system," Chishti said.
But the events of the last few months "have eroded trust completely in the Executive Office for Immigration Review," he added, saying the mass removals could have a chilling effect on judges who might apply to fill the vacant spots, and who might feel pressured to rule in a certain way.
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The Justice Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on the lawsuit filed by the former judge, or on the other removals reported by the Times and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Bondi framed the lawsuit as one of hundreds that have been filed against the Trump administration, in what she and other administration officials have described as an effort to oppose the president's agenda and policies in court.
"We have been sued 575 times," Bondi told Trump and members of his Cabinet. "More than every administration going back to Reagan combined."
She also highlighted the Trump administration's success with many of the cases that it has appealed to the Supreme Court for emergency intervention.
"Twenty-four Supreme Court wins, President Trump," Bondi told the president on Tuesday. "A 92% success rate."
The Trump administration has indeed seen a record number of Supreme Court victories this year by way of the so-called emergency or "shadow docket," which allows the administration to appeal the case to the high court for immediate intervention.
Often, the appeals are resolved via unsigned orders published by the Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority.
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Though they are not intended to be permanent, the Supreme Court "shadow docket" rulings have allowed the Trump administration to proceed with a wide range of its policies, including its ban on transgender service members in the military, its termination of millions of dollars in Education Department grants and DEI funding and to proceed with the firing of certain federal board members, among many other things.
"We're winning nationwide injunctions, ending DEI funding, [and] working to secure that our federal workforce is aligned with your America First agenda, representing pretty much everyone in this room," Bondi said Tuesday.
