Immigration Judge Gita Vahid-Tehrani (Personal Capacity) was appointed to the bench on January 2002 as the 1st Iranian-American Immigration Judge. In such capacity besides presiding over thousands of immigration matters at the Los Angeles Immigration Court, she has had the pleasure of mentoring numerous other Immigration Judges and attorneys. She is the recipient of Outstanding Mentoring Awards from former Attorney Generals Holder and Mukasey. She is a past Chair of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) Precedent Decision Committee. She has also evaluated several Immigration Courts nationwide and has had roles in the Immigration Practice Manual and the Immigration Judge Benchbook.
Prior to taking the bench, she served as an Assistant Chief Counsel/Trial Attorney for the Legacy INS for 10 years. Besides representing the Government daily on numerous immigration matters, she also represented the government in both Worksite Enforcement matters and in employment matters before the Merits Systems Protection Board.
She received her JD from Whittier College School of Law where she was a member the Whittier Law Review and on the Dean’s list.
She has received her BA in Economics from UCLA.