Fired judge goes to the border, searching for what he missed on the bench

""People agree a lot more than they disagree," said Johnson, reflecting on his trip. He found the border itself to be "kind of beautiful and quiet," even as "people are continuing to die" crossing it."

"For Johnson, his trip reinforced his legal philosophy that immigrants applying for asylum are not numbers or forms, but human beings, each with a unique story."

"At a shelter in Nogales, Mexico, near the border wall, he sat in a cafeteria and shared pork, peppers and warm tortillas with a Mexican migrant named Jaime."

Jeremiah Johnson, a San Francisco immigration judge, was among 104 judges fired by the Trump Administration without explanation. Following his dismissal, he felt liberated to pursue a long-held desire to visit the U.S.-Mexico border. In January, he traveled to Tucson, Arizona, where he engaged with local communities, shelters, and border patrol agents. His experiences reinforced his belief that immigrants are individuals with unique stories, not just cases. He shared meals with migrants, deepening his understanding of their struggles and the complexities of border crossings.

Read at Mission Local