She was a federal immigration judge who met every performance standard—and then she got the axe. Now she’s fighting back, alleging the Trump administration fired her for being a Democrat, a woman over 40, and fluent in Spanish.
Kyra Lilien filed a bombshell 14-page lawsuit against the Department of Justice and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, claiming her termination was illegal and a violation of her civil rights and First Amendment protections.
Her attorney, Kevin Owen, didn’t mince words: “She didn’t fit their mold. What they did was impermissible and unlawful.” The message is clear—this wasn’t about performance; it was about politics.
Lilien was appointed to the San Francisco Immigration Court in July 2023, then moved to Concord in February 2024. She served nearly two years—the standard probationary period before judges are typically granted permanent roles. But instead of confirmation, she got a termination notice.
The lawsuit names nearly 30 other immigration judges from around the country who were either fired or denied permanent status. Of those, 14 came from the very same courts where Lilien worked. And the pattern is stark: those axed were overwhelmingly female.
Throughout her probation, Lilien earned nothing but top marks. Her fiscal year 2024 and 2025 reports gave her the highest possible rating—"satisfactory." She also denied 34% of asylum claims, according to independent data. Hardly a soft-on-immigration judge.
Then came July 11, 2025. A cold notice informed her that the attorney general had decided not to extend her term or convert her to permanent status—citing Article II of the Constitution. No performance issue. No explanation. Just a door slammed shut.
But the lawsuit goes deeper, revealing internal hostility at the highest levels. It alleges that Sirce Owen, then acting director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, issued memoranda in early 2025 labeling immigrant advocacy groups as "extremist leftist organizations" that promote illegal immigration and undermine the courts.
Another memo from Owen blasted hiring practices under the Biden administration. Taken together, these documents laid bare what Lilien’s suit calls management’s open hostility toward anyone with immigrants’ rights backgrounds, women, ethnic minorities, and so-called "DEI" hires.
Now the battle is in the courts. Lilien isn’t just fighting for her job—she’s fighting to expose a system that, she claims, punished her for who she is and what she stands for.
