Multiple sources have confirmed to Mission Local that the Department of Justice has fired San Francisco immigration court judge Shira M. Levine.Â
Levine is the sixth immigration court judge in San Francisco to be fired by the Trump administration, as first reported by NBC Bay Area. The Department of Justice terminated Judge Chloe S. Dillon less than two weeks ago.Â
Now, there are just 14 immigration court judges left in San Francisco.
Some of the fired judges were relatively new to their positions and still in their two-year probationary period, which makes it easier to terminate their employment. Levine, who was hired in 2021, had surpassed this window. Dillon had also surpassed her two-year probationary period.Â
According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse from Syracuse University, which has tracked data on immigration court judges from 2019 to 2024, Levine granted asylum in 97.9 percent of the cases she received.
This acceptance rate is similar to Dillon’s, along with most of the judges the Department of Justice has terminated in San Francisco, who granted asylum in the vast majority of cases that reached their courtrooms.
San Francisco immigration court judges have a higher acceptance rate of asylum cases than the national average — which is less than half of cases, at just 42.3 percent.
This could be due to a number of factors, including where asylum-seekers are from, and the fact that many asylum-seekers in San Francisco are represented by a lawyer. Only 4.2 percent of the asylum-seekers whose cases Levine presided over did not have legal representation.Â
Having access to a lawyer makes a significant difference in whether an asylum-seeker’s case is approved. According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse project, 77 percent of asylum-seekers who do not have a lawyer are denied asylum.Â
The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment by publication time. As of Wednesday evening, Levine was still listed on the San Francisco Immigration Court’s staff directory.
Asylum-seekers have been arrested outside of San Francisco Immigration Court after their hearings since the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown began earlier this year, even if a court judge doesn’t grant the government’s motion to dismiss their asylum case.
The Trump administration has fired more than 50 immigration court judges so far. Yesterday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved 600 military lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges across the country. The current backlog of pending immigration cases is unprecedented. In July, they reached a record 11.3 million cases nationwide.Â
Mission Local has regularly seen immigration court judges schedule asylum cases as far in advance as 2028 and 2029.
In San Francisco, it is unclear how the firing of Levine will impact future immigration court proceedings, or who will replace her.Â
No need for a judge if you’re just a rubber stamp that says yes for formality sake.
Finally, an opening for my latest Conspiracy Theory,
Can I get an ‘AMEN !!’ that Trump is DUMB ?
I’m saying that the complexity and speed of his administrations dismantling of the United States Government is way beyond his bandwidth.
I may be the only one but I honestly believe that this entire campaign was hatched by Vladimir Putin and is being directed by same.
Any takers ?
go Niners !!
h.
@h. brown – Indeed it is beyond his bandwidth, though it was spelled out in the Project 2025 document. Trump said he never heard of it and the media repeated his claim uncritically. As he rolled out exactly what Project 2025 specified and appointed Project 2025 authors to positions of power, the media didn’t connect the dots. The _New York Times_ actually called these moves “muscular.”
Amennnnn
Can I get an Amen ?
We need to make Spanish the National language of the USA . I don’t speak Russian and am concerned Russians going to become our national language … Viva La Razaaaaaa
Waffen SS bureaucracy at work..wake up USA.
My God, , what a nightmare! Why did they touch my judge, Levi Shira? Who will now judge and defend people like me, who truly need help, protection, and this asylum , for whom this is a matter of life and death? Have some of the judges to be humane?
She was a very fair, very attentive, and professional judge. Why do they just lump everyone together without looking into it? She had an individual approach to everyone. She’s a highly professional judge with a human face.
We need 100% asylum cases to be approved . We need to stop racism .
How did this unqualified turnstile get to be a judge anyway?
She is mocking US immigration law rather than applying it. Good riddance.