The Department of Justice fired at least five San Francisco immigration court judges on Friday in the largest cut of immigration judges in the city so far this year. Today’s firings bring the total number of San Francisco immigration judges sacked by the Trump administration to 12 this year.
Judges Shuting Chen, Louis A. Gordon, Jeremiah Johnson, Amber George and Patrick Savage were fired, according to multiple sources close to the San Francisco immigration court. As of Friday afternoon, all five names had been removed from the court’s website.
The dismissals follow the justice department’s firing of seven other San Francisco immigration judges this year, including the assistant chief Judge Loi McCleskey in early September, Judge Shira M. Levine a few days earlier, and Judge Chloe S. Dillon in late August.
Only nine immigration judges remain in San Francisco, according to the court’s website.
All five judges had relatively high rates of granting asylum cases, although San Francisco immigration judges as a whole have far higher rates of granting asylum compared to others nationwide.
According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, Gordon had the highest rate of all five judges, accepting asylum claims 96 percent of the time between the years of 2019 and 2024. Close behind him, George granted asylum in roughly 94 percent of cases and Savage granted asylum in roughly 93 percent of cases. Chen granted asylum in about 90 percent of her cases. Johnson had a slightly lower rate of granting asylum claims, 88.6 percent.
Nationwide, immigration judges granted asylum an average of 41 percent of the time.
The Trump administration has fired more than 80 immigration judges so far this year, even amid a 3.4 million backlog of cases. In response, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has assigned 600 military judges to temporarily fill those roles nationwide.
Multiple attorneys said they worry the firings will disrupt cases for clients with upcoming hearings and further strain an already backlogged system. Diana Mariscal, a staff immigration attorney at La Raza Centro Legal said that these firings will increase uncertainty for asylum seekers. “Many have been waiting several years already for their day in court and now face having to wait even longer.”
In one particular case, noted by Mariscal, testimony had already been taken and attorneys expected a favorable outcome. But now, the outcome is uncertain. “With a new judge, we don’t know how much our client will have to testify again and relive their traumatic past.”