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DOJ fired Aurora, Colorado immigration judge Brea Burgie without cause after she resisted bail-hearing rollback

The Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review fired Aurora, Colorado immigration judge Brea Burgie on June 18, 2026, five months after she publicly stated in her courtroom that she would keep following a California court's bond-hearing ruling despite being told judges weren't bound by it. Burgie had granted bond in December 2025 to Denver activist Jeanette Vizguerra, prompting a DHS spokesperson to call her an "activist judge"; her cases were reassigned and she was disciplined within weeks. She is the second Colorado immigration judge fired during Trump's second term and one of roughly 120 immigration judges fired nationwide over the past 18 months, per the National Association of Immigration Judges.

Part of: Trump Administration Attacks on Judicial Independence

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Aurora, Colorado

Abuses documented

Actors

On June 18, 2026, the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review fired Aurora, Colorado immigration judge Brea Burgie while she was on vacation on the East Coast, notifying her by email that cited Article II removal authority and gave no cause. The termination followed a monthslong disciplinary sequence: in December 2025, Burgie granted bond to Denver activist Jeanette Vizguerra after a California federal court ruled that immigration detainees arrested inside the United States were entitled to bond hearings, prompting a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson to call Burgie an "activist judge." After the nation's newly appointed chief immigration judge emailed the bench that judges were not bound by the California ruling, Burgie stated in open court that she would follow it anyway; within weeks her pending cases were reassigned, including to a supervising judge in Arizona who reversed several of Burgie's prior rulings, and she was formally disciplined.

Burgie is the second Colorado immigration judge fired during the Trump administration's second term and one of roughly 120 immigration judges fired nationwide over the past 18 months, according to Jeremiah Johnson, executive vice president of the National Association of Immigration Judges and himself a fired immigration judge. Unlike Article III judges, immigration judges are Justice Department employees without the removal protections of appointed judges, and the administration has claimed constitutional authority under Article II to dismiss them without cause. EOIR did not respond to a request for comment on Burgie's firing.

Why we recorded this

Judicial independence requires that immigration judges decide bond and deportation cases on the law without fear of losing their jobs over the outcome. The Justice Department fired Judge Brea Burgie without cause five months after she publicly said in her courtroom that she would follow a federal court's bond-hearing ruling despite being told she wasn't bound by it, and weeks after a DHS spokesperson branded her an "activist judge" for granting bond to a high-profile detainee. Removing a judge over the outcome of a specific ruling, rather than any identified misconduct, signals to the remaining bench that continued employment depends on ruling in the government's preferred direction, eroding the impartial adjudication this archive exists to protect.

Sources

  1. Fired judge says Colorado's immigration courts focus on rapid deportations, not due process — The Denver Post primary accessed August 5, 2026
  2. Immigration judge who granted bond for high-profile detainee fired in ongoing Trump purge — Colorado Public Radio (CPR News) primary accessed August 5, 2026
  3. Fired immigration court judge shares concerns about enforcement of nation's laws — CBS Colorado primary accessed August 5, 2026

See also