Kyra S. Lilien
Immigration Judge, Concord Immigration Court. Appointed August 2023.
Asylum record, FY 2021-2026
TRAC source →- Decisions on the merits
- 384
- Asylum granted
- 249
- Other relief granted
- 6
- Denied
- 129
- Against own court
- -17.8 pts
| FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|
| 23% | 39% |
Docket
Respondents represented by counsel: 98% (nationally, 81% are represented).
Most common nationalities: India (61.7%), Mexico (8.9%), Peru (5.2%), Nicaragua (4.2%), Guatemala (3.4%).
Official biography
Kyra S. Lilien was appointed as an immigration judge to begin hearing cases in August 2023. Judge Lilien earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1996 from Smith College and a Juris Doctor in 2006 from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. From 2021 to 2023, she was the director of immigration legal services at Jewish Family & Community Services – East Bay in Concord, California. From 2016 to 2021, she served as staff attorney at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. From 2013 to 2016, she served as asylum officer and interim training officer at the San Francisco Asylum Office, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Department of Homeland Security. From 2010 to 2013, she was the immigration program director at Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland, California, where she represented noncitizens before EOIR and USCIS. From 2007 to 2010, she was an associate attorney at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in San Francisco, where she handled immigration cases on a pro bono basis. From 2006 to 2007, she was a research fellow on behalf of the University of California, Berkeley, War Crimes Studies Center at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Judge Lilien is a member of the State Bar of California.
In the record
Fired Bay Area immigration judge sues DOJ, alleging discrimination over gender, age, political views
ABC7 News reports that Lilien, removed from the Concord immigration court less than two weeks before she would have received tenure, sued the Justice Department alleging she was fired over her political views and associations. She says her termination notice ran three lines.
Two Bay Area immigration judges fired by Trump administration
NBC Bay Area confirms that Lilien, appointed to the Concord court in 2023 and still within her two-year probationary period, was fired in July 2025 along with San Francisco judge Ila Deiss. It notes she granted asylum at a higher rate than most judges nationally.
EOIR Announces 38 New Immigration Judges
This EOIR announcement lists Kyra S. Lilien as an immigration judge at the San Francisco Immigration Court, appointed to begin hearing cases in August 2023. The release includes a biography covering education and prior legal roles.
Other judges at Concord
Court page →About these figures. Denial rates describe outcomes in the cases a judge happened to hear, which differ by detention, nationality and representation. They are not a measure of fairness or competence. Method and sources are on the judges index.