If there were an award for the mother of all puff pieces, USA Today‘s fired immigration judge article would be in the running.
X users are baffled by the soft stance taken toward Jeremiah Johnson, who they describe as taking on an “unusual, if poetic, mission” since being removed from his position. He decided to travel to Guatemala to meet the family of immigrants to whom he had granted asylum, carrying with him a bouquet of flowers.
Look:
Five months after he was fired as a U.S. immigration judge, Jeremiah Johnson found himself rumbling into the highlands of Guatemala on a crowded bus, a bouquet of flowers in hand.
His unusual, if poetic, mission: to visit relatives of an indigenous family who fled their village… pic.twitter.com/CzOz4IgFlN
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) April 20, 2026
“His unusual, if poetic, mission: to visit relatives of an indigenous family who fled their village for the United States and won asylum in his courtroom,” the outlet wrote.
“Johnson, 52, served nearly a decade as an immigration judge in San Francisco, in a famously liberal circuit, hearing hundreds of asylum cases. Day in, day out, he heard stories of political and religious persecution, torture, violence, rape. He granted asylum 89% of the time,” the article continued. “That statistic, he believes, is likely one of the reasons the Trump administration targeted him and the San Francisco court in an effort to rid the system of alleged bias in favor of immigrants, and against the Department of Homeland Security.”
X users weren’t inspired by his “unusual” pilgrimage, or by his record of “activism” on the bench:
Since legitimate asylum claims are sub five percent and probably sub one percent, the fact that this guy was granting 89 percent approvals should be a national scandal about the corruption of the rule of law— not the basis for a puff piece.
— Jeremy Carl (@realJeremyCarl) April 20, 2026
It’s not really quite a fair trade— he should have brought an equal number of his shitlib colleagues with him to stay there.
— Andrew Kloster (@ARKloster) April 20, 2026
He wasn’t a judge, he was an activist masquerading as an immigration judge.
— Hunter Biden’s Life Coach (@Dave_AllRighty) April 20, 2026
Doesn’t sound like Guatemala is too dangerous if he’s able to casually visit it like this. Why did they need asylum again?
— Jean-Luc Canard (@JLCanard) April 20, 2026
Guatemala is so dangerous he granted asylum 89% of the time but it’s also safe enough for him to larp as a poor Guatemalan?
This makes no sense and proves the guy is retarded.
— Joey Snipes (@joeysnipes19) April 20, 2026
