WASHINGTON -- Immigration court judges will undergo periodic evaluations and additional immigration appeals judges will be hired, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced Wednesday.

Gonzales opened a review of the immigration courts, which operate as part of the Justice Department, in January after chastising some of them for "intemperate or even abusive" conduct toward asylum seekers.

"This review has left me reassured of the talent and professionalism that exists in the immigration courts and at the Board of Immigration Appeals," Gonzales said in a statement. But he found room for improvement.

The more than 200 immigration judges handle hundreds of thousands of cases each year. Some of the judges have criticized the quality of their colleagues' work and the disparaging way some judges have treated foreigners seeking to remain in this country.

Gonzales' predecessor, John Ashcroft, overhauled immigration reviews in 2002, but his changes have been highly criticized. Ashcroft's overhaul led to more asylum and other cases being decided by a single judge rather than a three-judge panel of the Bureau of Immigration Appeals. The reforms were followed by a marked increase in the number of cases later taken to regular federal appeals courts.

Gonzales declined to return to the three-judge format, but made other tweaks to Ashcroft's reforms, such as allowing for the return of a case to the immigration appeals panel if it warrants reconsideration.

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