San Francisco immigration judges Shuting Chen and Jeremiah Johnson weren’t expecting to be fired when they showed up to work last Friday. But they weren’t exactly surprised when it happened, either, given the fate of many of their colleagues this year.

Even so, the termination emails hit like a punch to the gut, they said.

“When I saw the email, I had a very emotional reaction,” said Chen, who was appointed under the Biden administration in 2022. “I started to cry in my courtroom in front of the parties, which I tried always not to do, despite the traumatic nature of our jobs.”

Johnson, who’s served as an immigration judge since 2017, said the emails provided no explanation for the firings.

“We are all public servants,” Johnson said. “We spent years of our lives serving the United States government in this role. And no explanation? No ‘thank you?’”

Chen and Johnson are among the latest casualties of the Trump administration’s ongoing purge of immigration judges across the country. San Francisco immigration judges Patrick Savage, Amber George, and Louis Gordon were also let go, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the firings. 

The shockwaves of the firings were already being felt at San Francisco’s immigration court Monday. 

“I’m saddened because the system lost great judges,” said immigration attorney Wahida Noorzad.

Noorzad had expected to attend the final hearing in her client’s asylum case before learning Judge Patrick Savage had been fired. The hearing was cancelled and pushed back another three years, she said.

“They wait five years to get a court hearing and then get thrown another three years,” Noorzad said. “These people are desperate to get their asylum.”

Chen said the remaining nine judges in San Francisco – already overwhelmed with thousands of cases each year – will now be hit with an avalanche of new cases they’re picking up from judges who have been terminated.

“I am deeply sorry that I cannot be there to hear their cases,” Chen said. “I think about a lot of the cases that I had to leave behind, which now, of course, creates more work for my colleagues.”

Across the country, the Department of Justice has terminated more than 90 immigration judges this year without cause, according to the National Association of Immigration Judges. San Francisco’s immigration court has been hit particularly hard, losing 12 of its 21 judges this year to firings,

Judges and attorneys have been searching for a common thread that might explain who’s being fired, such as judges with high rates of granting asylum, or judges with previous experience representing immigrants. 

But more and more, judges and attorneys tell NBC Bay Area they believe the administration is simply attempting to dismantle and completely reshape immigration courts.

“This is an all-out attack on the immigration court,” Chen said. “We began the year with 21 judges, and now we have nine, I think, in San Francisco.”

Beyond the firings, a wave of policy memos and new directives from the Department of Justice, which employs immigration judges through its Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), have also left an imprint on the court, according to many judges and immigration attorneys who have spoken to NBC Bay Area in recent months.

“I saw them as soft pressure,” Johnson said. “It was giving judges the hint that they should be hearing cases a certain way, deciding cases a certain way. Move faster. Less due process, essentially.”

The Department of Justice has said the new policies are aimed at enforcing the country’s existing immigration laws, which it accused the Biden administration of abandoning.

The agency declined to comment on the firings but has said it evaluates judges on factors such as conduct, impartiality, adherence to the law, productivity, and professionalism. 

As the Trump administration fires judges by the dozens, it’s also recruiting new ones to serve at the same time, launching a recent hiring campaign that’s already stirring up controversy by referring to immigration judges as “deportation judges.”

“Help write the next chapter of America,” the DOJ job posting states. “Apply today to become a deportation judge.”

The Department of Homeland Security is also promoting the hiring effort on social media.

“Bring the hammer down on criminal illegal aliens,” the agency wrote. “Defend your communities, your culture, your very way of life.”

The language has caused an outcry among attorneys, judges, and immigrant rights advocates.

“It’s meddling and interfering with real judges, our roles, our jobs, everything that we do,” Johnson said.

Chen said she never viewed herself as a “deportation judge” and hopes new judges won’t, either.

“I remain optimistic that people who are being brought on will not see themselves either as deportation judges, but as immigration judges, or just judges,” Chen said. “People who are trying to understand the law, who are grappling with it and thinking about it, and trying to do the right thing.”

In response to the criticism over the job postings, a Department of Justice spokesperson emailed a statement saying:

“After four years of the Biden Administration forcing Immigration Courts to implement a de facto amnesty for hundreds of thousands of aliens, this Department of Justice is restoring integrity to our immigration system and encourages talented legal professionals to join in our mission to protect national security and public safety.” 

The administration has also authorized military attorneys to begin serving as temporary immigration judges, some of whom have already begun, according to an October EOIR press release.