US District Judge J. Campbell Barker has recently come under scrutiny due to his past work challenging immigration policies for the state of Texas. Barker, who was appointed to the bench in 2019 by former President Donald Trump, played a significant role in contesting key Obama-era immigration initiatives during his tenure as a deputy state solicitor for the Texas attorney general’s office. This background has raised questions about his decision to pause the Biden administration’s latest immigration program, a move that has been challenged by several red states.
According to a report, Barker’s record on immigration reflects what Terence M. Garrett, a political science professor at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, describes as “a hard-core right-wing approach.” Barker’s advocacy in the Supreme Court against deportation relief policies while representing Texas has attracted particular attention. This history of challenging progressive immigration policies parallels his recent judicial actions and continues to influence perceptions of his judicial impartiality in immigration cases.