Loi McCleskey, the assistant chief immigration judge for San Francisco’s immigration courts, was fired Tuesday, according to four sources close to the court.
McCleskey’s role was, essentially, to oversee the other judges in San Francisco’s immigration court: Milli Atkinson of the San Francisco Bar Association said McCleskey was the direct supervisor of every immigration judge in the city, responsible for ensuring the courts run smoothly.
She directed judges and court staff on proper court procedures and rules, Atkinson said.
She is the seventh immigration judge in San Francisco to be fired by the Trump administration in recent months, including Shira Levine on Sept. 3 and Chloe S. Dillon in late August. Both Levine and Dillon had high rates of granting asylum.
McCleskey was fired via email, said Atkinson, an immigration specialist with the Bar Association, who confirmed the firing after a query from Mission Local.
McCleskey had a 70.2 percent rate of granting asylum cases, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse — higher than the national average, but middle of the road for San Francisco judges.
Nationwide, Trump has fired dozens of immigration judges, even as the courts face a backlog of 3.5 million immigration cases. The Pentagon said it would send up to 600 military lawyers to serve as temporary judges, according to an Aug. 27 memo seen by the Associated Press.
Immigration judges are not part of the judicial branch, unlike criminal judges. They are employees of the Department of Justice, specifically the Executive Office for Immigration Review.
The Trump administration has argued that the president can fire and replace them at will. Judges have filed a suit saying their mass firings violate the law.
The fascists are just laughing at those who believe our justice is working as it ought to.
They must meet quotas and clear the decks before targeting anyone left who would have courage left to oppose them.
Trump is a convicted felon who insists his dictates are legal.
So why do so many people still go along?
All three of the judges mentioned in the article who were fired by the Big Orange Dump are women. Misogyny reigns supreme in a time of small fingered dicktators.
I remain skeptical about Trump on the whole. But he is showing how bad certain aspects of the US government got under Biden, and these turnstiles pretending to be judges are one.
How were these questionable individuals allowed to be judges in the first place?! Whoever appointed these individuals needs to be investigated and fired too.
Not surprising, since at least two of the judges she oversaw were basically letting in everyone they adjudicated. It was her responsibility to catch and correct that but she didn’t.
If you have evidence that anyone was admitted improperly, you should present it.