‘Worst of the Worst’ judges are sabotaging Trump’s immigration agenda, top DHS official says

DHS General Counsel James Percival says Americans deserve to know which federal judges are repeatedly blocking the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, accusing a small group of district judges of acting in “open defiance” of the Supreme Court and engaging in “naked political activism.”

Percival has begun posting on X identifying federal district judges while accusing them of obstructing key portions of President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. Critics have argued the campaign improperly targets members of the judiciary.

“The American people hear about these terrible acts of judicial activism. I think what they don’t often understand is this is not some epidemic that sort of crosses the entire judiciary,” Percival said. “There are particular judges who are a problem in case after case after case.”

Percival told Fox News Digital the effort is intended to educate the public — not intimidate judges — and highlights what he described as a handful of repeat offenders acting in “open defiance” of the Supreme Court or reaching outside their Article III authority.

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Percival stressed that he does not believe the federal judiciary faces a systemic problem of defiance against the Supreme Court or the separation of powers, but said activist plaintiffs are adept at “forum shopping.”

“They file in these locations, often with very sort of dubious arguments to [have their case heard] in that venue. And they do it to get the same judges over and over and again.”

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He pointed to one such case in which Biden-appointed Judge Brian Murphy in Boston stopped a deportation flight until the Supreme Court intervened.

Murphy issued a 2025 order limiting the federal government’s ability to deport illegal immigrants to receptive “third countries.”

A flight bound for South Sudan was grounded in Djibouti, where the criminal illegal immigrants were taken to a U.S. military base.

“I think we had eight aliens on this flight to South Sudan. One of them had raped a child. One of them had raped a mentally-disabled person. These were very bad people that should not be in our country. And this Judge Brian Murphy was stopping us from doing this.”

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DHS petitioned the Supreme Court to intervene. Percival said the incident drew support from liberal Justice Elena Kagan, who sided with the Trump administration in the case.

“She said, ‘Even though I disagreed the first time, I do agree that Judge Murphy can’t defy the U.S. Supreme Court’,” Percival said. “And so when you see the same judge doing these acts of sabotage on TPS (Temporary Protected Status), we just think it’s important for the American people to understand.”

“And this is not an attempt by me to blast the entire judiciary. It’s just the opposite. If I were a member of the judiciary, I would want people to know this is a handful of district judges who are causing the same problems over and over and over again and calling the credibility of the entire branch of government into question when many of these judges are following the law and doing their jobs.”

Percival now frequently shares the “Worst of the Worst” judges series, separate from ICE’s “Worst of the Worst” criminal illegal immigrants series.

“If you think about DHS’ “Worst of the Worst” series, the main purpose of that is just to inform the American public about what’s going on,” he said.

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“There’s a lot of false narratives out there about immigration enforcement, but when we actually show people the types of people we’re moving from our communities, we think that really makes a big difference to the public…”

Percival said both series are intended to educate the public about DHS operations and counter narratives that do not reflect the agency’s day-to-day work.

Percival highlighted Clinton-appointed Illinois Judge Matthew Kennelly — who issued an order pausing termination of TPS for Burma nationals.

“He did so even though these decisions are not subject to judicial review, even though we have been vindicated by the Supreme Court on TPS four times, and even though the Seventh Circuit summarily reversed him on the same issue only days before,” Percival said in a separate statement.

“This is judicial sabotage.”

He also called out Obama-appointed Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Percival called Xinis the reason Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the illegal immigrant the press dubbed “Maryland Man” and whom Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., had boat drinks with in El Salvador — is still in the U.S.

“She entered an order preventing his removal and then ordered him released on the basis that we had no plans to remove him. If it sounds crazy, it’s because it is. Our efforts to reverse this decision remain pending,” Percival tweeted.

He said Biden-appointed Judge Hernan Vera in Los Angeles has “micromanage[d]” DHS’ use-of-force policy by describing violent anti-ICE agitators as “legal observers” while deeming the agency “violent.”

“[T]here’s a lot of times when the American public thinks that there’s something DHS is not doing because we’re choosing not to do it,” he said in his Fox News Digital interview.

“We just think it’s very helpful for people to understand what we’re facing in the courts, how out of control they are.”

He noted there has been public frustration at the appearance of DHS not doing certain things or not going in as hard on others as promised, pointing to the wind-down of TPS for foreign nationals.

“Of course, a lot of that is because of the judicial sabotage that we are facing in district courts and in other [places].”

Fox News Digital reached out to the judges’ respective courts for comment.

The media has also criticized Percival for the lists, including a Chicago Sun-Times reporter who asked whether the catalog he posted on X risks increasing threats against the judiciary.

“Witness the absolute absurdity of the liberal media response… Legitimate fact-based critiques of judges and their rulings is fair-game in a free society. Also, the media has no issue with it if the judge is conservative,” Percival wrote.

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He told Fox News Digital the issue is “classic separation-of-powers” in that the executive is allowed to tell another branch there’s disagreement.

Percival spoke with Fox News Digital from San Juan, where he was visiting personnel from Homeland Security Investigations.

He said HSI functions like an immigration-focused FBI, adding that it and other agencies reflect the “broad portfolio” he oversees as DHS’s top lawyer.

“ICE is in the news the most, and so I think people are starting to associate me with ICE, but I love all my proverbial children equally. And I’m very dedicated to helping every single operator that my people are providing legal advice to be successful,” he said, noting there are 50 DHS attorneys in Puerto Rico alone and that he felt it important to meet with them.

Critics’ concerns about Percival’s list come after other officials have also faced criticism for their rhetoric targeting certain judges.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., was criticized for claiming that Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch “released the whirlwind” by ruling against abortion protections in an incident that drew a rare public rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts.

Kavanaugh, as well as Justice Amy Coney Barrett, have also been the target of threats from activist critics.