<p>SAN FRANCISCO &mdash; A San Francisco Immigration Court judge who was the subject of a complaint to the U.S. Justice Department involving hostile and biased treatment of immigrants abruptly quit his post this week.</p>
<p>In a letter announcing his retirement, Judge Nicholas Ford did not acknowledge the complaint by local attorneys representing immigrants, the <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Controversial-S-F-immigration-judge-quits-16107366.php">San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, he criticized the entire court system and called its managers "a fearful community whose primary interest has never been the growth of those they oversee but rather their own continued employment.”</p>
<p>“I am an older judge and it is hard to understand how any court system can function like this,” he added.</p>
<p>Ford was a criminal court judge in Cook County, Illinois, before being named to the immigration court bench in 2019 by then-Attorney General William Barr. During his tenure in Chicago, he was criticized for jailing a pregnant woman without bail for a nonviolent crime and had a high number of rulings overturned by appellate courts, according to Injustice Watch, a justice watchdog group.</p>
<p>Last November. a coalition led by the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the National Lawyers Guild called for his removal from the bench, alleging in a complaint that Ford acted in an “aggressive, unprofessional and demeaning” manner toward immigrants.</p>
<p>The guild said the Justice Department closed its investigation into Ford last month without disclosing whether any disciplinary action was taken. </p>
<p>Ford and the Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment from the Chronicle.</p>
<p>The guild said in a statement Saturday that it believes the public pressure for Ford to be removed from the bench had an impact. </p>