Immigration advocates are sounding the alarm as more immigration judges are fired in San Francisco.
According to ABC News, more than 100 immigration judges have been laid off across the country this year, many of them in the Bay Area, which will lead to a backlog of immigration cases from months to years.
At least 21 immigration judges in the San Francisco Bay Area have been fired. Sources tell us many have no reason or explanation.
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“I am disappointed with the decision to dissolve the court in this manner. I have several cases to hear, I have goals and a job, and I understand the seriousness of my position,” said Jeremiah Johnson, a former immigration judge. “I was fired for no clear reason, no justification, a simple email stating that I was no longer an immigration judge.”
Jeremiah Johnson served as an immigration judge for eight years. On Nov. 21, a week before Thanksgiving, he said he was one of five judges fired that same day.
“Why do you think you were fired?” ABC7 News reporter Luz Pena asked.
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“Because of my job. Immigration judges take precedence over deportation proceedings, and if you remove a judge, that’s what the law says. So far, not only myself, but over 100 judges have been fired, forced out, then you’ve evaded the law,” Johnson said.
Johnson is part of a panel of judges questioning the federal government’s actions.
“Immigration judges are employees of the Department of Justice. We are appointed by the attorney general. Part of the law says that as immigration judges, we are expected to use our independent decision-making, power and discretion as independent immigration judges. So, we are protected. We are supposed to be protected from being fired, from being fired,” Johnson said.
Bill Hing, a professor of law and immigration studies at the University of San Francisco, believes that this is a strategy of the Trump administration.
“One theory is that the Trump administration just wants to arrest people, detain them, force them to waive their hearings, and the longer the court system delays, the more likely people are to become immigration victims in immigration court,” Professor Xing said.
The Ministry of Justice responded in part in a statement: “After four years of the Biden administration forcing immigration courts to grant de facto amnesties to hundreds of thousands of aliens, the Department of Justice is restoring the integrity of our immigration system.”
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There are about four immigration judges in San Francisco, and Professor Xing worries that the backlog in San Francisco will worsen.
“I’m concerned that people’s cases will be delayed for a few years,” Professor Xing said.
Johnson said he had peace of mind knowing he had followed the law and played back his final words to the family of four who were in court making their asylum claims.
“Welcome to America,” Johnson said.
Johnson urged Congress to challenge the attorney general on ending the immigration court system’s head and explain plans to give undocumented immigrants a chance to have their cases heard in court.
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