Friday night massacre: 5 judges fired from S.F. immigration court today

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Government
Friday night massacre: 5 judges fired from S.F. immigration court today

by Sage Ríos Mace and Margaret Kadifa
November 21, 2025, 4:29 pm


The outside of 100 Montgomery St. San Francisco Immigration Court is on the eighth floor.

The Department of Justice fired at least five San Francisco immigration court judges on Friday in the largest cut to 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.

{snip}

All five judges fired from San Francisco on Friday 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.

{snip}

[UpInArms]

1. Firing immigration judges

Hiring deportation judges

wtf?

[MichMan]

2. Looks like the average percentage of successful asylum claims is around 50%

According to this data, San Francisco is at 74% on average.

https://www.docketwise.com/blog/asylum-statistics/

[quaint]

3. Several factors in play. Attorney representation is one. Coastal city is another.

Last edited Sat Nov 22, 2025, 06:06 PM - Edit history (1)

Asylum Approval Rate by U.S. City
In 2024, city-level data showed sharp contrasts in asylum approval and denial rates. For example, according to the 2025 State of Immigration Report:

San Francisco: 26% denial rate, with 90% of applicants represented by legal counsel

Chicago: 34% denial rate, with 93% represented

New York City: 16% denial rate, with 96% represented

Miami: 70% denial rate, with 81% represented

Houston: 83% denial rate, with 81% represented

Los Angeles: 23% denial rate, with 91% represented

Seattle: 66% denial rate, with 66% represented

[moniss]

4. Excellent information. nt

[quaint]

5. Looks to me how cities were picked for ICE invasions.

[moniss]

6. Yes indeed and all of the

transfers from facility to facility in rapid succession and in the dead of night just make it more difficult for the detainees to obtain legal counsel and even if they do for that counsel to be effective. The huge and constant complaint from immigration lawyers is access to their client because of not even knowing where they are.