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Fired Concord immigration judge sues DOJ
Fired Concord immigration judge Kyra Lilien sues DOJ.
CONCORD, Calif. - A Concord immigration judge is suing the Department of Justice over her termination, alleging that she wasn't kept on past her probationary period because she is a Democrat, a woman over 40, fluent in Spanish, and previously advocated for immigrants.
Discriminated against
What they're saying:
Kyra Lilien filed the suit in US District Court in Northern California on May 1 – coincidentally the same day San Francisco's immigration court closed for good – saying she was discriminated against in violation of her civil and First Amendment rights.
"She didn't fit their mold," Kevin Owen of Gilbert Employment Law in Maryland, one of Lilien's attorneys said on Wednesday. "And what they did to her was impermissible and unlawful."
Lilien, who declined an interview through her attorney, is one of at least 107 immigration judges fired under the Trump administration nationwide since January 2025, according to the National Association of Immigration Judges.
She is the first one in the Bay Area to sue over her lost job.
Three other immigration judges in the U.S., have sued over similar allegations, including in Los Angeles, Chicago and Cleveland. Owen said that another four other immigration judges are planning to sue soon.
‘Overwhelmingly female’
Lilien's suit names nearly 30 other immigration judges fired or not converted from probationary periods from around the country, including 14 from the Concord and San Francisco immigration courts.
These judges were "overwhelmingly female," her lawsuit said, which also pointed out that four white male judges were kept on.
As of Wednesday, there were four immigration judges and one supervisor still listed as working at the Concord immigration court.
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SF Immigration court closing down early
Immigration court at 100 Montgomery in San Francisco saw its last case Friday. Operations will wind down until the offices close in September.
Government's response
The other side:
In an email on Wednesday, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, a branch under the Department of Justice, declined to comment on "litigation-related matters," which was first reported by the East Bay Times.
But in December 2025, the DOJ was clear about its mission to eliminate immigration judges the agency felt had "systemic bias."
"After four years of the Biden Administration forcing Immigration Courts to implement a de facto amnesty for hundreds of thousands of aliens," the DOJ wrote in an email to KTVU at the time. " This Department of Justice is restoring integrity to our immigration system and encourages talented legal professionals to join in our mission to protect national security and public safety."
Trump administration fires at least 15 immigration judges in Bay Area
A total of 15 immigration judges have been fired in the Bay Area since President Trump took office, and nearly 100 across the country.
Atmosphere at work
The backstory:
Lilien was hired as an immigration judge in Concord on July 23, 2023, and was transferred to Concord's immigration court in February 2024.
Like others, she was put on a two-year probationary period, but according to her suit, most of these appointments are "routinely converted" to permanent positions.
During her time there, she received satisfactory assessments, the highest possible rating, and 96% of her motions were adjudicated on time, her suit states. She also said she received glowing reviews.
According to TRAC Immigration, Lilien denied 34% of the asylum cases brought to her and granted nearly 66% of them from 2000 to 2025.
Then, without ever having been disciplined, on July 11, Lilien was told via email that her probationary term would not be extended.
Her suit notes the atmosphere in her agency as well.
She named Sirce Owen, the acting director of EOIR in January 2025, who issued a memorandum that was "openly hostile" to immigrant groups, claiming they are "extremist leftist organizations that advocate for illegal immigration and undermine immigration courts," her suit states.
Lilen used to be program director for Jewish Family and Community Services, which largely helps Afghan refugees settle in the United States, and was the immigration program director for Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland.
She also spent eight years advocating for immigrants before the EOIR and Department of Homeland Security – job titles she put down on her resume and which got her hired in the first place, her suit points out.
Her suit notes that several immigration judges with "exclusively prosecutorial" immigration law backgrounds or who had never worked with immigrant rights groups were not fired, and she named specific people who were kept on.
Another Owen memo criticized Biden appointees like herself, and said that the agency was now "committed to rectifying those harms."
"Together, the memoranda laid bare management's hostility to hiring individuals with immigrants' rights backgrounds, women, ethnic minorities, and others who may be considered ‘DEI’ hires," her suit states.