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California immigration judge sues DOJ, alleging she was fired for being a registered Democrat, a woman over 40
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A California immigration judge who was terminated by the Trump administration is alleging in a lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) that she was fired because she is a registered Democrat and because of her affiliations with immigrant-rights groups.
The 14-page lawsuit, filed by Kyra Lilien, names the DOJ and acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche as defendants.
Lilien claims she was not retained past her probationary period due to a number of factors, including being a woman over the age of 40, being fluent in Spanish and her associations with the Hispanic community.
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Kevin Owen of Gilbert Employment Law in Maryland, one of Lilien’s attorneys, told FOX San Francisco she didn’t fit their mold and that the actions taken against her were impermissible and unlawful.
The lawsuit alleges that her termination violated Lilien’s civil and First Amendment rights.
Asylum seekers, left, walk toward the southern border in Tijuana, Mexico, next to an image of a courtroom in the Concord Immigration Court in California. Kyra Lilien, an immigration judge, is suing the Trump administration over her termination, alleging she was fired because of her political affiliations. (Getty Images; Concord Immigration Court)
Lilien was initially appointed to serve at the San Francisco Immigration Court on July 23, 2023, before being transferred to the Concord Immigration Court in February 2024. In total, she served nearly two years, which is the standard probationary period immigration judges serve under Justice Department policy before their appointments are typically converted to permanent roles.
The lawsuit names nearly 30 other immigration judges from around the country who were either fired or not converted from probationary periods, including 14 from the Concord and San Francisco immigration courts.
The filing states that immigration judges who were not converted or were terminated around the same time as the plaintiff were overwhelmingly female. Fox News Digital has reached out to Lilien’s attorney, the DOJ and the DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).
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Lilien was initially appointed to serve at the San Francisco Immigration Court July 23, 2023, before being transferred to the Concord Immigration Court in California in February 2024. (iStock)
Throughout her employment and during her probationary period, Lilien met or exceeded all performance standards, according to the lawsuit.
She received satisfactory assessments — the highest possible rating — in her probationary period reports for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. As a judge, Lilien denied 34% of asylum claims brought before her, according to data from TRAC Immigration.
On July 11, 2025, Lilien received a notice that her probationary period would not be converted permanently, and the message said the attorney general had decided not to extend her term or convert it to a permanent appointment pursuant to Article II of the Constitution.
Migrants line up at the southern border in San Diego in 2024. (Fox News)
The suit also alleges that Sirce Owen, who was serving as the acting EOIR director at the time, issued controversial memoranda in early 2025 that demonstrated hostility toward immigrant advocacy groups and certain hiring practices.
Owen allegedly characterized these groups in a memo as «extremist leftist organizations» that promote illegal immigration and attempt to undermine immigration courts.
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He also issued another memo criticizing the appointment practices under the Biden administration.
Lilien’s suit states that these memoranda together laid bare management’s hostility toward hiring individuals with immigrants’ rights backgrounds, women, ethnic minorities and others who may be considered «DEI» hires.
justice department, federal judges, immigration, attorney general, judiciary, donald trump, politics
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‘Preaching as resistance’: Dem minister behind Satanist wedding now linked to anti-Trump sermon guide
Iowa Democrats seek to flip US Senate seat
FOX Business correspondent Grady Trimble reports on state Rep. Josh Turek and state Sen. Zach Wahls competing for the chance to challenge the GOP U.S. Senate candidate in a key race on ‘Special Report.’
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FIRST ON FOX: Democrat candidate Sarah Trone Garriott, a minister and state legislator running for one of the most competitive House seats in the nation, contributed to a «resistance preaching» guide that encouraged faith leaders to combat President Donald Trump and his supporters from the pulpit.
Trone Garriott authored a chapter in a 2018 collection titled, «Preaching as Resistance: Voices of Hope, Justice, and Solidarity,» in the aftermath of Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory — an event the book described as bringing the country «so closely to fascism.»
Responding to Trump’s presidency, «Many pastors find themselves drawn toward acts of resistance,» Phil Snider, a self-described «White male cishet pastor,» writes in the book’s introduction.
He argued that «pastors of the resistance» were working against a Trump-led coalition rooted in «White supremacy,» «exploitation,» «greed,» and «heteropatriarchy.»
State Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, a Democrat from Iowa and U.S. congressional candidate, speaks with attendees during a primary election night event at The Loft DSM in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 2, 2026. (Scott Morgan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Trone Garriott, who was ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America in 2008, was among that cohort as an author of the collection.
Her contribution titled, «The Gospel of Resistance,» was described as the first sermon she delivered after the 2016 election and has not been previously reported.
Trone Garriott’s involvement comes as she faces mounting scrutiny from Republicans over her previous remarks on religion and cultural issues. The GOP views the Iowa House battleground held by Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, which incorporates the state capital of Des Moines, as critical to preserving its slim majority.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the contest as a «toss-up.» Trump carried the swing district by over four points in 2024, but a recent Fox News Poll showed his favorability is now underwater in the Hawkeye State.
Trone Garriott publicly discussed helping marry a Satanist couple as a minister-in-training during a love-themed storytelling event in 2023, Fox News Digital previously reported. She also defended a Wiccan-led prayer in the state legislature and tied public displays of Christianity to political violence in a 2023 sermon.
During that talk, she criticized private schools and parental rights in education while highlighting her efforts to seek out prayers in the state legislature that were not from the «White American Christian variety.»
The Republican National Committee (RNC) sharply criticized Trone Garriott’s participation in the «resistance» preaching collection.
«The Wicked Witch of Woke strikes again and admits what we all knew — she views the pulpit as a political weapon to advance her radical agenda,» RNC spokesman Zach Kraft said in a statement to Fox News Digital. «There isn’t a far-left cause Sarah Trone Garriott hasn’t claimed to have found in the Bible and attempted to force on Iowans.»
Trone Garriott did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about why she chose to contribute to the collection or whether she agreed with the book’s introduction, which described Trump and his tens of millions of voters as rooted in racism.
The book described Trump and his tens of millions of voters as rooted in racism. (David Cliff/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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The sermon collection, described as «provocative» by its publisher, includes 30 sermons under titles that include «Transgressing the Gender Binary,» «Encountering Pharaoh — and Climate Change,» and «Wake Up and Stay Woke!»
Beyond criticism of Trump, pastors also condemned immigration enforcement, deportation policies, transphobia, and what one author calls «the worship of military-grade weaponry among the populace.»
In «When to Break the Law,» a minister urges sanctuary cities to defy the federal government and harbor illegal aliens to avoid deportation. In «Take a Knee,» the author rails against the «militarized border.» In «Overcome Evil with Good,» police departments are associated with White supremacy. In «Beloved Resistance,» the president is described as an «unrepentant sexual predator.»
Trone Garriott’s own sermon closes the collection. While less overtly political than some of the others, it was identified as the first sermon she delivered after Trump’s election.
In the sermon, Trone Garriott appears to encourage listeners who were upset by recent events, without explicitly mentioning Trump’s election win. She discusses periods when Christians felt detachment throughout history and turned to Matthew 24:36–44, a passage about Christ’s return in which he tells believers to remain ready.
Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 15, 2025. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg)
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«For those who are honestly praying for the kingdoms of this world to be destroyed and Christ’s kingdom to come…for those who are yearning to go with Christ wherever that may lead…for those hoping for new life…this is the good news,» she wrote.
politics, donald trump, religion us, faith values, midterm elections
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“Me siento en casa”: Salvadoreña regresa a Estados Unidos tras autodeportarse por caso de trata de personas
El bullicio habitual del aeropuerto se disolvió en un estallido de aplausos, llanto y abrazos contenidos durante más de un año. El día 7 de julio de 2026, con las maletas cargadas de una mezcla de alivio y nostalgia, la inmigrante salvadoreña Yessenia Ruano volvió a pisar el suelo que considera su hogar: los Estados Unidos.
Después de catorce meses de un exilio forzado que ella misma tuvo que elegir para proteger a su familia, el reencuentro con la comunidad de Milwaukee no solo marcó el fin de una pesadilla, sino el inicio de un capítulo donde la justicia, aunque incompleta, finalmente tocó a su puerta.
“Es como un sueño hecho realidad y le doy gracias a Dios primeramente por hacer esto posible. Es como que me siento en casa”, confesó Yessenia con la voz entrecortada, asimilando apenas el impacto de haber cruzado la terminal aérea no como una fugitiva de la deportación, sino como una mujer amparada por la ley.
A su lado, sus dos hijas gemelas de diez años, ciudadanas estadounidenses, miraban el entorno con una mezcla de asombro y familiaridad recuperada. El recibimiento fue abrumador. Rostros conocidos de la Escuela ALBA, el centro educativo público bilingüe donde Yessenia trabajó durante años como asistente de maestra, se congregaron para darle la bienvenida que las leyes migratorias le habían negado en el pasado.
En mayo de 2025, la presión del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE) se había vuelto insostenible. A pesar de que Yessenia tenía un trámite activo para obtener la Visa T, un visado humanitario otorgado a víctimas de trata de personas, las autoridades migratorias endurecieron sus políticas de supervisión.
Ante la inminente amenaza de ser arrestada y recluida en un centro de detención, lo que habría significado una separación abrupta y traumática de sus hijas menores de edad, Yessenia tomó una de las decisiones más desgarradoras que puede enfrentar una madre: la autodeportación.
La familia entera se trasladó a El Salvador, un país que para sus hijas era un territorio completamente desconocido y para Yessenia, un pasado que ya no le pertenecía. El choque cultural, el confinamiento en una vivienda precaria y la interrupción de la educación de las niñas marcaron catorce meses de resistencia silenciosa. Sin embargo, en los tribunales estadounidenses se gestaba una batalla legal decisiva.
Un juez federal, al evaluar una demanda colectiva que cuestionaba las agresivas tácticas de deportación del gobierno contra inmigrantes con solicitudes humanitarias vigentes, emitió un fallo histórico.
A pesar de la victoria jurídica, la felicidad en el hogar de los Ruano está incompleta. El fallo del juez federal, sumamente específico en sus alcances técnicos, solo amparó de forma directa a Yessenia y a sus hijas ciudadanas. Miguel, su esposo y el pilar que la sostuvo durante el difícil año de destierro en El Salvador, no fue incluido en la orden de retorno inmediato. Su estatus legal dependía de su condición de beneficiario colateral, un vacío legal que lo obligó a quedarse atrás en el aeropuerto de San Salvador.
Lejos de rendirse ante este nuevo obstáculo, Yessenia ya ha tomado cartas en el asunto. De la mano de sus abogados, ha presentado una petición formal ante las autoridades de inmigración solicitando de manera urgente que Miguel pueda unirse a ellas en los Estados Unidos.
El retorno a Milwaukee representa un triunfo, pero no el fin de la batalla. Yessenia es plenamente consciente de que regresar no significa haber obtenido la residencia automática y que el laberinto legal del ajuste de estatus sigue vigente.
Las autoridades y sus antiguos compañeros de la Escuela ALBA ya le han comunicado que tiene las puertas completamente abiertas para reincorporarse a su antiguo puesto. Pero esta vez, el objetivo de Yessenia es más ambicioso: inspirada por el proceso legal que la obligó a madurar y a defender sus derechos, se ha propuesto iniciar su certificación oficial para dejar de ser asistente y convertirse, finalmente, en una maestra titular.
corresponsal:Desde San Salvador, El Salvador
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Argentinian flight instructor jumps to death from plane, 22-year-old student forced to land alone
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A flight instructor jumped to his death out of a small aircraft over Argentina, forcing the student pilot he was teaching to land the plane herself.
Leandro Andrés Bertazzo, 42, was on board a two-seat Cessna 150G on Saturday when he made the decision to jump out over the province of Córdoba, according to CNN, which cited its Argentinian affiliate TN.
«He made this tragic decision on board an aircraft with another person by his side,» Eduardo Álvarez, director of the Flying Parrot Córdoba flying school where Bertazzo worked, told TN. «It’s impossible to think about it or understand it, but the human mind is so complex.»
An undated photo of Leandro Andrés Bertazzo, a 42-year-old pilot who jumped to his death from a plane on Saturday, July 4 in Argentina. (Instagram/Leandro Bertazzo)
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Rosario, the 22-year-old student, later told authorities that Bertazzo told her, «You know what you have to do, carry on,» before taking off his gear, opening the door and leaping out, according to Álvarez.
Opening the door of a plane midair is incredibly difficult. Álvarez said it would be akin to trying to open the door of a car traveling 124 miles per hour.
Cessna 150m FRA150M climbing out after take-off with flaps deployed and hills behind. (aviation-images.com/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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Álvarez said that Rosario managed to land the plane safely, despite being in «complete shock.» There was no damage to the plane, according to TN.
Álvarez noted that Bertazzo had gone on a flight with another student earlier in the day.
A view from the main road of the flight school Bertazzo worked at, Flying Parrot Córdoba. (Google Maps)
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Álvarez also told TN that Bertazzo had visited a psychiatric institute, something that was only known by his family prior to his death.
Prosecutors in Córdoba will lead the investigation into Bertazzo’s death. The plane he jumped from is now in police custody.
world, south america, trending news
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