"Since April, the Department of Justice has fired more than half of the bench in San Francisco's immigration courts, twelve judges in total. The largest cut came in late November, when Judges Shuting Chen, Louis A. Gordon, Jeremiah Johnson, Amber George and Patrick Savage were all terminated on the same day. It is unclear why the two judges have chosen to retire."
""We have turned immigration judges and courts into another arm of the president and his administration," said former immigration Judge Shira Levine, who was fired in September. Under pressure from the administration, Levine said, judges face an impossible catch-22: challenge the directives of the Department of Homeland Security or risk losing their jobs. Current judges are aware of this reality, she said. "Is that the type of pressure we want our judges to face?""
San Francisco's immigration bench will shrink to seven judges after two retirements, following earlier DOJ terminations that removed twelve judges since April. The November mass terminations included five judges fired the same day. Former judges attribute retirements and firings to pressure from the Trump administration to expedite case processing, which they say undermines due process for asylum-seekers. The firings have contributed to San Francisco's immigration-court backlog exceeding 120,000 cases, the largest nationwide. Former judges warn that further departures risk not only increased backlog but also a systemic erosion of legal protections for migrants.
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