Influential Women Showcases Brea Burgie: Championing Justice And Advocacy For Vulnerable People In Immigration Law

DENVER, CO, UNITED STATES, October 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Former Immigration Judge and Founder of Bench to Bar, LLC Draws on More Than a Decade of Immigration Law Experience to Support Asylum Seekers and the Attorneys Who Represent Them

Denver, Colorado – Brea Burgie is a former Immigration Judge and the founder of Bench to Bar, LLC, who recently concluded seven years of service as an Immigration Judge in Denver. Her time on the bench followed more than a decade of diverse experience in immigration law. Her areas of expertise include immigration law and adjudication, asylum case representation, the identification of immigration fraud and referral for prosecution, and consulting for immigration attorneys on case presentation. Throughout her career, she has been driven by a deep commitment to challenging injustice and supporting vulnerable people.

Brea began her career in social work, supporting survivors in domestic violence shelters. That experience led her to law school at the University of Denver. She had previously studied sociology and history, with a minor in Spanish, at the University of Northern Colorado. After graduating from law school in 2007, she advanced through a clerkship, led a nonprofit organization, and served as an attorney advisor at the Phoenix Immigration Court. She then spent eight years in the general counsel’s office at immigration court headquarters, where she also served as fraud counsel, referring fraud cases for prosecution. Before becoming a judge, she briefly left government service to build a legal program for the International Rescue Committee in Denver, serving survivors of torture.

Brea attributes her success to the lessons she learned at the start of her career. Working with survivors of domestic violence showed her the good that attorneys could do to help people, and that realization led her to law school to use the law as a tool for social change. She feels compelled to act when she sees injustice, and that drive carried her from nonprofit work into the judiciary, where she believed she could make an even greater impact. That same sense of purpose continues to guide her work today, whether she is representing an individual client or helping another attorney strengthen a case. Each step of her career has built on the one before it, giving her a rare view of the immigration system from nearly every side.

Brea has described the bench as demanding, pointing to the emotional weight of deportation rulings and the professional isolation that judicial ethics require. Her judicial tenure ended abruptly when she was one of roughly 150 immigration judges dismissed by the Trump administration, a dismissal she considers politically motivated and unlawful and intends to contest formally. Rather than stepping away, she has refocused her energy on representing asylum seekers, supporting immigration attorneys, and pursuing federal appeals for clients seeking fairer hearings. She is also preparing to launch a consulting practice that will help immigration attorneys build stronger cases by drawing on her perspective from the bench.

Her advice to young women entering the field is to gain as much varied experience as possible and to build strong professional networks, since those connections often open doors and advance careers. She also encourages them to value the relationships they build along the way, since colleagues and mentors often become the people who help shape the course of a career. Brea sees major challenges in the politicization and bias within the immigration agency, including large-scale judge firings, as well as the isolation of judging and the difficulty of ensuring fair outcomes for asylum seekers. At the same time, she sees opportunity in advocating for fair appellate review in federal courts, consulting with attorneys on case presentation from a judge’s viewpoint, and helping less-experienced lawyers navigate a complex system. Her years as an advisor, fraud counsel, nonprofit leader, and judge give her a perspective few practitioners can offer.

Justice, advocacy on behalf of vulnerable people, and using her skills to make a meaningful difference are the values that guide Brea in her work and personal life. She is a member and philanthropic supporter of the International Rescue Committee and Doctors Without Borders, and she plans to deepen her involvement with a Colorado asylum organization. Outside of work, she is a mother who treasures time with her children, enjoys skiing, and reads history. She recently took a three-week road trip retracing Revolutionary War sites from Washington, D.C., to Boston in honor of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

From a domestic violence shelter to the immigration bench and now to the side of asylum seekers and their advocates, Brea has spent her career working to make the legal system fairer for those who depend on it most. Brea Burgie’s continued advocacy stands as a testament to the enduring power of using the law as a tool for justice and human dignity.

Learn More about Brea Burgie:

Through her Influential Women profile: https://influentialwomen.com/connect/brea-burgie

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