Fired Immigration Judge Who Challenged ICE Arrest Of Unaccompanied Child Files Whistleblower Lawsuit

A former United States immigration judge says she objected to ICE agents who “unlawfully detained an unaccompanied minor who had just been in her courtroom,” and then she was fired. She filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit on September 10. 

In 2025, according to the complaint [PDF], the immigration court in San Francisco had 22 immigration judges. The Justice Department “fired nearly 20 of the judges,” including the plaintiff, Chloe Dillon. The department even announced that the court would close in January 2027.

The complaint alleges that Attorney General Todd Blanche and other officials violated the Whistleblower Protection Act and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, since the termination was retaliation and viewpoint-based discrimination for expressing opposition to “unlawful activity within her immigration courtroom.”

Dillon was an immigration judge on the San Francisco immigration court from September 26, 2022, to August 22, 2025. 

On April 22, 2025, Dillon questioned a “directive” issued by Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Loi McCleskey that instructed San Francisco immigration judges to grant any motions to change venue by ICE. She told McCleskey the directive went against a “precedential decision” from the Board of Immigration Appeals, which affirmed that immigration judges have discretion to decide such motions. 

During an in-person meeting in McCleskey’s office two days later, the concerns expressed by Dillon were allegedly dismissed. McCleskey emphasized that the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge expected that “cases would be transferred as requested by ICE.” But Dillon said this would undermine the right to counsel for detained non-citizens. McCleskey allegedly warned Dillon that the White House was paying attention, and she should “be careful about pushing the issue further.”

“In July and August 2025,” as the complaint recounts, Dillon “issued two orders denying ICE’s motion to re-calendar in these cases, and she noted that the individuals were designated unaccompanied minors whose cases had been administratively closed because jurisdiction over the asylum applications were at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). 

“Plaintiff cautioned ICE by stating that she had concerns as to whether such re-calendaring and pursuing removal without the adjudication of the application by USCIS in the first instance could potentially violate the TVPRA or the J.O.P. settlement,” the complaint adds. (TVPRA is the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, and the J.O.P settlement refers to a settlement related to the asylum rights of unaccompanied children.)

On August 20, 2025, ICE “arrested an individual” after he showed up “early for court in a full suit” and filled out paperwork to stay up to date on his case. Without providing a reason, ICE made an oral motion to dismiss the case. Dillon asked if DHS planned to “initiate expedited removal proceedings instead, and the ICE attorney stated that it would do so.” 

Dillon recognized how rare it was for ICE to make oral motions of this nature in her courtroom. She asked “if there were any federal court orders in effect at that moment that could affect the decision or what was to occur at court that day, as she knew there was ongoing litigation and that policies, temporary restraining orders, and injunctions could be changing day to day.” The ICE attorney told Dillon that was “none of [Plaintiff’s] concern,” according to the complaint.

Dillon declined to rule on the motion, which gave the individual who was now at risk of deportation a chance to obtain legal counsel. The individual was afraid that he may no longer have a right to seek asylum, even though he had previously submitted an asylum application. But Dillon informed him that he did have a right “before a different judge” or in “expedited removal proceedings.” 

After leaving Dillon’s courtroom, ICE arrested this individual. Dillon emailed McCleskey after recognizing that ICE had detained a “designated unaccompanied minor who could not be placed into expedited removal proceedings, and who thus had the right to have his already-filed asylum application decided first by an asylum officer, and then, if necessary, by the Immigration Court.” 

Dillon objected to “potential violations of statutory law and due process,” as well as “courthouse arrests” that were disruptive to the “orderly administration of justice.” The arrest had also inflamed a protest outside the courthouse, making it “impossible to work in her chambers because it had large windows that faced the street on which the protest was taking place.”

Forty-eight hours after sending the email, Dillon was fired from her position as immigration judge. 

The complaint demands a jury trial and requests that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California award Dillon “lost pay and benefits” and reinstate her to her position as immigration judge. 

During President Donald Trump’s second term, his administration has fired around 125 immigration judges. 

As the Globe previously reported, Roopal Patel was fired in April from her position on the Boston immigration court after she ended deportation proceedings against Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University graduate student who was detained by ICE in retaliation for a pro-Palestinian op-ed that she co-authored for her school newspaper. 

Patel suggested that the administration was “getting rid of judges who are not on board with its mass deportation agenda.” In several instances, the Trump administration has replaced fired judges with their own appointees. 

“It's creating this climate of fear where judges are worried that if they misstep and do something that's out of line with what the administration wants, they're more subject to firing,” Patel declared. "That can erode judicial independence, it can erode due process, and it can make people more likely to be ordered removed from this country.”

Around the same time, the administration also fired Judge Nina Froes after she ended the government’s deportation proceedings against Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian activist who led protests at Columbia University. 

In August, WBUR, a public radio station in Boston, reported that the increased fear of retaliation has been additionally fueled by the “temporary” placement of inexperienced military JAG lawyers to the Boston and Chelmsford immigration courts in Massachusetts.

The Justice Department proposed a measure in July that would allow the government to “impose contempt fines” on immigration attorneys, migrants and witnesses. Meanwhile, Homeland Security or ICE attorneys and other federal employees would be exempt from any fines.