Dear Mr. Trump,

I have just looked at the Executive Office for Immigration Review website, because I wanted to see if I qualified to apply to become an immigration judge. I thought: Harvard Law School, Harvard Law Review, four years’ service in the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, 25 or so career trials … maybe?

To my great surprise, the Department of Justice website is not taking applications. Supposedly, as of March 27, 2019, when the job announcement expired, the United States has enough immigration judges. That cannot possibly be the case.

The United States has only 394 immigration judges. More than 800,000 cases remain to be resolved, so why don’t you seek the authorization of more judges? If each judge, on average, has 2,000 pending cases, no wonder there’s a problem, but you’re doing nothing to fix it. You don’t like the U.S. law that allows people to apply for asylum, so you won’t do what you need to do to adjudicate those claims.

What you should be doing is asking for a 400% increase in the ranks of immigration judges, so asylum pleas can be dealt with quickly and fairly. Instead of 394, we should have at least 2,000 judges.

But that’s not how you think, is it? You’re a reality show host. You think it’s cool to say “You’re Fired!”

Well, firing everyone who works for you in the Department of Homeland Security doesn’t solve the problem on our border.

Firing your nominee for head of ICE before he’s even confirmed – in the hope of someone “stronger” – doesn’t solve the problem on our border.

There’s one thing that you will understand. “You’re Fired!” We will fire you. Your firing will take place as a result of the 2020 election. You can bet on it. And no new judges will be necessary.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger