‘Everyone has a breaking point’: the immigration judges at the sharp end of Trump’s deportation drive

<p>Judges have been fired or taken buyouts, and those remaining say they toe the government line</p><p>David Koelsch, a former <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/usimmigration">immigration</a> judge based in Maryland, was in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/minneapolis">Minneapolis</a> visiting his mother and sister the day <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/29/who-is-alex-pretti-ice-minneapolis-shooting">Alex Pretti</a> was shot and killed by federal age