Immigration Judges Vary Greatly in Granting Asylum

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse

Greetings. TRAC’s new report on Immigration Judges shows vast differences in the rate at which the nation’s 200-plus immigration judges decline hundreds of thousands of applications for asylum in the United States.
In one recent period, for example, while ten percent of the judges denied asylum in 86% or more of the their decisions, another ten percent denied asylum in only 34% of theirs. The Immigration Court, a branch of the Justice Department, asserts in a mission statement that it is committed to the “uniform application of the immigration law in all cases.” Yet at one end of the scale was a Miami judge who turned down 96.7% of the asylum requests. At the other end was a New York judge who rejected only 9.8%.

To see the new study — complete with graphics and judge-by-judge data — go to http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/160/ . The report is part of a new site devoted exclusively to immigration issues. This site — http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/ — has other reports on the Border Patrol apprehensions, Border Patrol staffing, the inspection process at official ports of entry, the criminal enforcement of the immigration laws, etc. Also available is a plain English glossary of words and phrases common to the immigration world and a special library of immigration studies from the GAO, Congressional Research Service and the inspectors general of several agencies.