13th San Francisco immigration judge fired, leaving court decimated

"San Francisco's immigration court will lose three more judges in the coming weeks, two of them to retirement and a third who was fired on Friday. Immigration judge Arwen Swink was terminated this afternoon by the Department of Justice, according to three court sources. That leaves just seven judges on the court today. Three more will retire by the end of the year."

"Between fiscal years 2020 and 2025, Swink, who was fired on Friday, granted asylum at a rate of 77.9 percent, according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse from Syracuse University. Milli Atkinson, the head of the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative, said today that judges Howard Davis and Charles Greene will also retire in the coming months. President Donald Trump has fired more than 100 immigration judges across the country, though San Francisco appears to be one of the heaviest courts hit."

"Judges with high grant rates, like fired judge Shira Levine, face a higher risk of being targeted by the administration. Levine said that immigration judges would receive memos from the administration telling them to "consider becoming a policy advocate for aliens" or to "get another job" if they used a creative argument to help a non-citizen in their case. Swink is the 13th judge to be fired this year."

San Francisco's immigration court will reduce its bench from 21 judges at the start of 2025 to just four by the new year because three judges will be lost in coming weeks and three more will retire by year-end. Immigration judge Arwen Swink was terminated by the Department of Justice, leaving seven judges currently. The court has the worst backlog in California and the national immigration court backlog totals about 3.4 million cases. Between fiscal years 2020 and 2025 Swink granted asylum at a 77.9 percent rate. President Donald Trump has fired more than 100 immigration judges nationwide, with San Francisco heavily affected. Judges with high grant rates face higher risk of being targeted and have reportedly received memos discouraging creative arguments.

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