Trump-Appointed Immigration Judge Resigns, Citing Broken Due Process in 2nd Term

David Cheng, a former immigration judge appointed during President Donald Trump’s first term, resigned in July 2025 after eight years on the bench, citing the inability to uphold due process under the demands of the Trump administration’s second term. Cheng, who served as assistant chief immigration judge in Newark, New Jersey, said the pressure to rapidly process cases conflicted with his commitment to public service.

Cheng’s Career and Appointment

David Cheng spent 25 years working in government immigration roles. He was appointed as an immigration judge in 2017 by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions during President Trump’s first term. Prior to joining the bench, Cheng worked 15 years as a government immigration attorney, including time at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Challenges Under Trump’s Second Term

Cheng resigned in July 2025, roughly one and a half years into President Trump’s second term, due to increasing demands he said compromised his ability to ensure fair treatment for immigrants. He explained that immigration courts historically struggled with backlog issues, but the administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown exacerbated the problem. Judges were urged to expedite hearings to an unrealistic pace, forcing them to spend mere minutes per case.

Cheng illustrated the pressure: “If you had 100 cases in the morning and you dedicated two minutes per case, you know, that’s 200 minutes. That’s — rough math — about three and a half hours. And you were expected to do that in about two hours. It came to where you weren’t doing what you were supposed to do to make sure that everybody has due process.”

Conflict Between Duty and Demands

Reflecting on the conflict between his judicial responsibilities and the administration’s expectations, Cheng told Law.com, “In 2025, with the new administration, the demands and what they were asking for were just sort of in conflict with why I dedicated my life to public service. It got to a point where I thought, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ So I had to step away.”

New Role After Resignation

After resigning, Cheng took roughly a year off to clear his head. On Tuesday, he joined the New York-based immigration law firm Gendelberg Law as a senior attorney. Cheng cited the firm’s client-first philosophy as a key reason for his return to immigration work outside of the government system.

Cheng’s departure highlights ongoing tensions within immigration courts as they face mounting caseloads amid politically driven policy shifts.

His experience underscores the challenges judges face balancing expedited processing demands with the fundamental need to uphold due process rights for immigrants.