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.
The bill, introduced by California's Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Juan Vargas, would allow the attorney general to appoint temporary immigration judges who have served on appellate panels, are administrative judges in other agencies, or have at least 10 years of experience in immigration law. This legislation comes after the White House authorized up to 600 military lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges, while eliminating the requirement for them to have prior immigration law experience.
On Friday, Judges Amber George, Jeremiah Johnson, Louis Gordon, Shuting Chen and Patrick Savage were fired from San Francisco's immigration court, which at the start of the year had more than 20 judges, according to Milli Atkinson, the director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program with the Bar Association of San Francisco.
The government lawyer knew what was coming as she stood inside a courtroom and texted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent waiting in a corridor a few feet away. "I can't do this," the lawyer said in a text message as she looked at her docket of cases. "This is a new emotional load." "I understand," the agent responded. "Hopefully we meet again in a better situation."
(Spencer Platt / Getty Images) Lawyers and advocates fear about 1,000 Central American children, including dozens in California, are at risk of being deported to dangerous situations in their home countries before finishing their immigration court proceedings. They believe the U.S. government is now expanding their list of hundreds of children across the country, which started with children from Guatemala, to include those from Honduras and El Salvador. Lawyers for some children saw their scheduled hearings disappear from the immigration court calendars in recent weeks.
