A former California Immigration Judge has launched a high-stakes federal lawsuit against the Department of Justice, claiming she was purged from the Bench due to her political affiliation.
Kyra Lilien, who presided over cases at the San Francisco and Concord immigration courts, was dismissed via a blunt three-line email while she was literally on the record presiding over an active hearing.
The Kyra Lilien DOJ lawsuit alleges that her removal was part of a systemic effort to target judges who did not align with a specific political profile, marking a significant escalation in the crisis surrounding the US Department of Justice's judicial independence.
Lilien, a registered Democrat, argues that her non-conversion from probationary status was not based on her professional performance, which had consistently met expectations, but on a desire to remove adjudicators associated with immigrant rights advocacy.
The California immigration judge lawsuit and the DOJ firing have sent shockwaves through the legal community, particularly due to the dramatic nature of her termination on Thursday, 7 May 2026.
According to the complaint filed against acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Lilien was ordered to turn in her laptop and badge immediately, effectively abandoning her courtroom in the middle of a session. This abrupt disruption of judicial proceedings is being cited as evidence of a disregard for the stability oftheExecutiveOffice for Immigration Review(EOIR) and the due process rights of the individuals whose cases she was hearing.
California Immigration Judge Sues Trump DOJ; Claims She Was Fired for Being a Registered Democrat Woman Over 40https://t.co/T47jXl6cLB
A central moment in the case comes from Lilien's own account of how she learned she was being removed.
She said, 'I was on the record in the middle of a hearing, and I got the email.'
According to the reference material, the notice itself was extremely brief. Lilien described it as, 'It was only three lines long, and it said I needed to leave and turn in my laptop and badge immediately and leave.'
Source: International Business Times UK
