Portland’s immigration judge bench has been rebuilt in less than a year, leaving all four immigration judge seats in the Portland Immigration Court filled by people who arrived during that period. Two came in April and May 2026, and the court had four judges again in early June 2026.
That turnover matters for people whose cases are now before a bench that was almost entirely reshaped after the Trump administration’s mass firings of immigration judges across the country. As of early June 2026, Portland had three permanent judges and one temporary judge.
Ryan J. Clark in April 2026
Ryan J. Clark was appointed as a temporary immigration judge in April 2026. Clark had no prior experience as an immigration judge or immigration lawyer, and the facts show a career path that ran through the Social Security Administration in Montana beginning in 2015 and then the Montana National Guard as a judge advocate beginning in 2024.
His appointment sits inside a larger hiring push. The DOJ began a hiring campaign in November 2025 for what it called deportation judges, and it removed the requirement that immigration judges have years of adjudicatory, litigation or immigration experience. EOIR announced 151 permanent immigration judges and 74 temporary immigration judges between late October 2025 and late May 2026.
EOIR Appointments on May 21
Matthew Andrasko was appointed as a permanent judge on May 21, 2026, part of a larger EOIR announcement that day of 77 permanent appointments and five temporary appointments. By late May 2026, Portland’s court had four judges again, including three permanent judges and one temporary judge.
The speed of the rebuild follows a sharp drop in the court’s staffing. National Public Radio reported in February 2026 that Portland had lost three of its four judges under the second Trump administration’s mass firings of immigration judges nationwide. In total, 202 judges who were working in February 2025 were not in February 2026, and at least 100 of those judges were fired by the Trump administration.
Portland Court Turnover
The two judges who arrived in April and May were joined by two others who came after becoming casualties of those firings in other courts across the country. That left Portland with a full bench again, but one built from a much newer roster than before.
Stephen Manning, executive director of Innovation Law Lab in Portland, said of the turnover on the court bench: “The immigration courts are supposed to be fair places for immigrants to have their cases heard.” He added: “It is important that judges are qualified, capable, independent, and fair.”
Justice Department Hiring Push
A DOJ spokesperson defended the staffing shift in a written statement: “Reducing the immigration court backlog remains one of the highest priorities for this administration.” The spokesperson also wrote: “The Justice Department is restoring integrity to our immigration system by hearing cases fairly, expeditiously, and uniformly, in accordance with the law.”
For people with cases in Portland, the immediate reality is a court where every judge is new within less than a year, and where two of the four seats changed hands in April and May 2026. The next change in the bench will come only if EOIR makes another appointment or another judge leaves the court.
