US Secretly Sack Judge Married To Nigerian After Granting Asylum In 97% Of Cases

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) under President Donald Trump has quietly dismissed a New York-based immigration judge, Vivienne Gordon-Uruakpa.

Gordon-Uruakpa is a Black, a female jurist married to a Nigerian-American, after she approved asylum claims at one of the highest rates in the country.

According to the New York Post, Gordon-Uruakpa, widely regarded as New York’s most lenient immigration court judge, had her appointment terminated without public announcement in September.

Her removal reportedly followed scrutiny of her rulings, which favoured asylum seekers in 97 percent of cases, the highest approval rate among her colleagues in the state.

The judge has since disappeared from the official website of the downtown Manhattan immigration courthouse where she previously served, fueling concerns about transparency surrounding her dismissal.

When contacted, the DOJ declined to provide details about her removal, stating only that the court’s website “is up to date.”

Gordon-Uruakpa’s sudden exit comes amid what observers describe as a broader purge of immigration judges perceived as sympathetic to asylum applicants.

Immigration court judges operate under the Justice Department and do not enjoy lifetime tenure or civil-service protections granted to federal judges, leaving them vulnerable to political dismissal.

Attorney General Pam Bondi holds authority to appoint and remove immigration judges, a power critics say has increasingly been used to reshape immigration courts along stricter enforcement lines.

The development follows reports that the Trump administration has fired more than 100 immigration judges during its tenure, as deportation rates climb and border enforcement policies intensify.

Data from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) shows that nearly 80 percent of migrants seeking asylum were deported in the last quarter.

Gordon-Uruakpa, 66, studied at Fordham University in the Bronx and later attended Howard University School of Law.

Her professional background includes years in legal aid and criminal defense, experience that observers say influenced her approach to asylum adjudication.

Her removal drew renewed attention after she was recently referenced in a report examining how asylum outcomes often depend heavily on which judge hears a migrant’s case, effectively turning immigration proceedings into what critics describe as a “judicial lottery.”

Meanwhile, John Burns, considered one of New York’s toughest judges on asylum claims, was appointed Acting Assistant Chief Judge in January, a move seen by analysts as signaling a shift toward stricter immigration rulings.

The Justice Department has refused to disclose the specific reasons behind Gordon-Uruakpa’s termination, further raising questions about political interference in immigration courts and the independence of judges handling asylum cases, an action critics note differs from practices under previous U.S. administrations, which rarely removed judges over their asylum approval records.