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babylonsister

(172,376 posts) Mon Sep 29, 2025, 12:03 PM Monday

'Like the Gestapo': trailblazing immigration judge on Ice brutality and Trump's damage to the courts

‘Like the Gestapo’: trailblazing immigration judge on Ice brutality and Trump’s damage to the courts
Dana Leigh Marks had a long and notable tenure on the bench. Now she’s watching the Trump administration trash her institution – and raising the alarm
Isabeau Doucet in San Francisco
Sun 28 Sep 2025 09.00 EDT

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Now retired at 71, she’s seen her share of political ups and downs over her 10 years as an immigration lawyer and 35 years on the bench. But nothing could have prepared her for what she’s seen the Trump administration do to the court systems she once served.

“I have seen my entire career destroyed by Trump in six months,” said Marks, reflecting on the state of her profession while sipping coffee near her home in Marin county, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, where she spent much of her career. “I’m flat out terrified on all fronts.”

Whip-smart, with a shock of white curls, Marks can speak more freely than a sitting immigration judge. And the picture she paints is alarming.

Trump’s immigration crackdown has thrown the already backlogged courts into chaos. More than 100 immigration judges have been fired since Trump was sworn in, including roughly a third of the judges in San Francisco, home to one of the largest immigration courts in the country. People across the US are routinely arrested outside their court hearings by Ice agents “acting like the Gestapo”, Marks said.

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/28/dana-leigh-marks-immigration-judge-trump