The email hit like a silent explosion, an invisible bomb detonating across a system that had once prided itself on procedure and impartiality. Six judges—seasoned, experienced, committed—were gone. Erased.
Between a morning coffee and the noon docket, their names, their authority, and their very presence in court vanished as if they had never existed. For the families awaiting hearings, the lawyers who relied on their judgment, and the clerks who had spent years navigating the intricacies of immigration law, the effect was immediate and disorienting.