A Republican lawmaker said he plans to file impeachment articles against a judge who reversed changes to an immigrant verification program, classifying her action as “rogue.”
U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., said he will file impeachment articles on Thursday after news of Judge Sparkle Sooknanan’s ruling became ensnared with a different judge’s competing ruling about the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, program.
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Hamadeh shared a copy of the articles on X, which stated he sought to impeach Sooknanan over “high crimes and misdemeanors.” He didn’t elaborate on what led to those claims.
“Her power grab against President Trump cannot be tolerated,” he wrote. “Rogue judges like her are destroying the rule of law while communists undermine America.”
Sooknanan hasn’t appeared to address Hamadeh’s claims or his impeachment filing.
She issued a ruling on June 22 in favor of the League of Women Voters and privacy rights groups, reversing changes the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) made to the SAVE tool that violated privacy and administrative laws. She criticized the Trump administration over upgrades that “knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens.”
Sooknanan has issued high-profile rebukes of the Trump administration in the president’s second term. She ruled against Trump’s move to hold detainees set for deportation at Guantanamo Bay, halted deportations of Guatemalan children and stopped the Federal Trade Commission from investigating Media Matters.
“We have the right to know that only Americans are voting in our elections,” Hamadeh wrote, referring to the SAVE system.
That ruling is being called into question as DHS previously entered a settlement agreement with Florida and three attorneys general over the department’s handling of the program.
US Rep., group targets Sooknanan
He’s not the only one criticizing the judge for her ruling.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., claimed Sooknanan’s dual citizenship with the U.S. and Trinidad is the problem. Mace said only U.S.-born citizens should serve in government and the judicial branch.
According to congressional records, 26 representatives and six senators who were born abroad currently hold office. It’s unclear how many federal judges were born outside the U.S.
Right-wing group Democracy Restored filed a complaint against Sooknanan, alleging she used partisan prosecution under the FACE Act in her role at the Justice Department during the Biden administration. The complaint echoed findings from the Department of Justice’s controversial weaponization report, which claimed Biden engaged in lawfare.
Few judges faced impeachment
According to the U.S. Courts, only 15 federal judges have been impeached in the nation’s history. Eight of those were convicted and removed from the bench by the Senate.
Complaints against judges aren’t uncommon. According to the U.S. Courts, 1,857 complaints were filed in 2025, a 23% increase from the previous year. They centered on the merits of a decision, misconduct, discrimination or delayed decisions.
Of those 1,857 complaints, chief judges dismissed 1,700. Reasons for dismissal centered on the merits of the decisions, insufficient evidence and frivolous allegations. The report said that 814 complaints were still pending as of Sept. 30, 2025.
Hamadeh added that Americans elected Trump to lead and not Sooknanan. The federal government has operated on a checks and balances system since its formal establishment in 1789, where judges, Congress and the president have the ability to limit one another’s power.
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