Immigration Judge Fired by Trump Admin Last November Speaks Out: 'I Was Not Given a Reason'

Upon returning to the White House, President Donald Trump's plan to crack down on immigration included reshaping the immigration court system, replacing some immigration judges with what the own administration has called "deportation judges."

Requirements for the positions, as outlined by the Justice Department, include "restoring integrity and honor" to the immigration court system, combating fraud and ensuring that only migrants with legally valid claims are allowed to remain in the country.

Since January 2025, hundreds of immigration judges across the country have either been fired, retired, or resigned. In their place, more than 140 new judges have been appointed, many of whom do not have stated experience in immigration law and are receiving less training than previously required.

One of the judges dismissed by the Trump administration is Jeremiah Johnson, who served for eight years as an immigration judge in San Francisco and is now executive vice president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, a voluntary group representing immigration judges.

In a recent interview with PBS News, Johnson described how he was fired and the changes he has seen in the system since the start of Trump's second term.

"I was given no reason. It was in the afternoon and I heard my afternoon case on the bench," Johnson said. "Then I learned that other judges in San Francisco had been fired. I checked my email and saw one with the subject 'termination,' and before I could even print that letter I was shut out of the computer and escorted out of the building."

Johnson was fired last November, one of 12 judges dismissed in San Francisco in 2025. Former judges say they fear the administration is removing judges who rule against the government and replacing them with others under pressure to expedite deportations.

During the interview, Johnson said the firings, combined with mounting pressure to speed up deportations, have had serious consequences nationwide.

"What you saw was judges being given little time to make important decisions. You saw an increase in cases and an increase in pressure to decide them. It didn't allow judges the opportunity to take the time to consider the evidence and get everything right," Johnson said.

Prior to the summer of 2025, Johnson said he was hearing three individual cases per day, but that number doubled in July.

"The stakes couldn't be higher. I was working with people fleeing their countries, claiming they would be murdered, raped or otherwise harmed, so you had to make sure you took the time to get it right," Johnson said.

Beyond replacing immigration judges who granted asylum seekers and immigrants the opportunity to remain lawfully in the United States, the Trump administration has implemented other measures that make it more difficult for migrants to bring their cases to court.

As noted by a Washington Post report, under new directives from the Justice Department's Board of Immigration Appeals, judges have been denying bond hearings and dismissing cases at the government's request, allowing authorities to detain defendants. Judges have also been encouraged to grant asylum more sparingly, and asylum rejections doubled from 2024 to 2025.

According to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, asylum denials more than doubled to 82,371 last fiscal year, which ran from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025. The share of cases granted fell to less than 5 percent in February, down from 48 percent in the same month in 2024 under former President Joe Biden.

Still serving as executive vice president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, Johnson said he has traveled south of the U.S.-Mexico border to meet asylum seekers and better understand their experiences.

"For many years, people traveled from around the world to appear in my courtroom in San Francisco and tell me about the harm they suffered and why they came to the United States," he said. "It was an opportunity for me to retrace those steps, follow that path and meet people fleeing their countries in a different context."

During the interview, Johnson said the last case he heard before being fired involved an Indigenous Guatemalan family of four seeking asylum, which he ultimately granted.

"You hear a lot about asylum cases not being real, or discussions about eligibility requirements, but when I went back to that village and saw the grave of the brother who was killed in the attack and the scars on the parents' faces, I knew that what I had done that day in July in the courtroom was correct," he said.