The Justice Department proposed changes to the immigration court system Friday that would give more power to the agency’s political leadership.

Under the new rules, the director of the Executive Office of Immigration Review would have the power to personally decide the longest-running cases.

The interim rule would also limit the power of EOIR’s general counsel to influence immigration judges’ decisions, a department official said in previewing the new policy for reporters.

EOIR is the agency that hears deportation cases from illegal immigrants nabbed in the interior of the U.S.

It also rules on requests for asylum, which have surged in recent years as migrants have abused the process with bogus claims that, while usually rejected in the end, still allow them to be released into the U.S. while their cases are pending, giving them a chance to disappear into the shadows.

The bogus claims have sent the backlog of cases at EOIR soaring to nearly 1 million.

The department official who detailed the changes Friday said the goal was to streamline the agency “in order to meet modern demands.”

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