Judge Sanders, Charles J.

Not hearing cases: nothing for over two years

Last hearing: February 27, 2024
Next hearing: none scheduled
Last decision: September 18, 2019

Courts worked at: 22

Worked here before

SAN ANTONIO — IMMIGRATION COURT2023—2024 · 14 hearings
MIAMI — IMMIGRATION COURT1984—2020 · 69,331 hearings
LAS VEGAS — IMMIGRATION COURT2018—2018 · 259 hearings
CONROE — IMMIGRATION COURT2014—2018 · 187 hearings
ADELANTO — IMMIGRATION COURT2006—2017 · 412 hearings
PEARSALL — IMMIGRATION COURT2017—2017 · 24 hearings
NEW ORLEANS — IMMIGRATION COURT2016—2016 · 230 hearings
KANSAS CITY — IMMIGRATION COURT2015—2016 · 322 hearings
LOS FRESNOS — IMMIGRATION COURT2009—2015 · 28 hearings
BUFFALO — IMMIGRATION COURT1998—2011 · 86 hearings
CHICAGO — IMMIGRATION COURT2009—2009 · 70 hearings
Orlando — IMMIGRATION COURT1994—2008 · 833 hearings
SAN FRANCISCO — IMMIGRATION COURT1998—2007 · 813 hearings
LOS ANGELES — WEST LOS ANGELES IMMIGRATION COURT1992—2005 · 469 hearings
GUAYNABO — IMMIGRATION COURT1988—2004 · 450 hearings
ATLANTA — IMMIGRATION COURT1999—2004 · 299 hearings
DETROIT — IMMIGRATION COURT1997—2002 · 320 hearings
NEW YORK — IMMIGRATION COURT1996—2002 · 404 hearings
MEMPHIS — IMMIGRATION COURT1997—2000 · 196 hearings
HAGATNA — IMMIGRATION COURT1998—1999 · 103 hearings
PHILADELPHIA — IMMIGRATION COURT1990—1997 · 84 hearings
ELIZABETH — IMMIGRATION COURT1993—1993 · 29 hearings

The periods overlap, and that is not an error: a judge hears cases at a new court while still closing out old ones at the previous one. Each row answers "when did this judge work here", not "from when to when did they serve here".

Status is derived from the court calendar: whether the judge has hearings scheduled after the release cutoff. The EOIR release carries no personnel data, so retirement, removal, elevation to the BIA and extended absence cannot be told apart — only what the data shows is stated here. Hearings are scheduled two to three years out, so an empty calendar for a working judge is rare; for judges who went quiet in the last few months it may still be an artifact of the cutoff, which lags by about a month. The lookup table's "active" flag is not used: it disagrees with the calendar for a third of judges.

18%

Asylum grant rate

of 3,825 decisions · FY1985–FY2019

95% interval: 17% — 20%

granted:: 703
denied:: 3,122

The period has closed

This judge no longer hears cases, so the figure describes FY1985–FY2019 — not what happens in the court today. Asylum rules and the mix of cases have changed since.

How this percentage is calculated

Grant rate = granted / (granted + denied). Administrative closures, withdrawals, abandonment and "not adjudicated" are excluded from the denominator. The unit of count is a decision per proceeding, not per application: applicants almost always file asylum, withholding and CAT protection together. Withholding and CAT grants are counted separately from asylum. U.S. fiscal year: October 1 – September 30.

How this compares

This judge18% (3,825)
The whole court — MIAMI — IMMIGRATION COURT19% (104,037)
All U.S. courts33% (1,350,724)

This comparison does not adjust for which cases a judge was given: judges see different nationalities, different shares of detained respondents, and different rates of legal representation. A difference in percentages does not by itself mean identical cases were treated differently.

Trend by fiscal year

U.S. fiscal year: October 1 – September 30.

Years with fewer than 10 decisions are not plotted (3): at that sample size the percentage is noise. They remain in the table.

Show as a table

Grant rate by fiscal year
Period	decisions	granted	95% interval
FY2019	122	9%	5% — 15%
FY2018	245	8%	5% — 12%
FY2017	73	22%	14% — 33%
FY2016	30	43%	27% — 61%
FY2015	17	24%	10% — 47%
FY2014	25	24%	11% — 43%
FY2013	21	38%	21% — 59%
FY2012	23	30%	16% — 51%
FY2011	33	27%	15% — 44%
FY2010	41	32%	20% — 47%
FY2009	103	25%	18% — 34%
FY2008	143	29%	23% — 37%
FY2007	195	17%	13% — 23%
FY2006	260	8%	5% — 12%
FY2005	390	12%	9% — 15%
FY2004	346	8%	5% — 11%
FY2003	297	18%	14% — 23%
FY2002	338	32%	27% — 37%
FY2001	197	34%	27% — 40%
FY2000	190	21%	15% — 27%
FY1999	145	13%	9% — 20%
FY1998	56	21%	13% — 34%
FY1997	94	33%	24% — 43%
FY1996	117	18%	12% — 26%
FY1995	96	18%	11% — 27%
FY1994	188	18%	13% — 24%
FY1993	35	6%	2% — 19%
FY1990	1	0%	0% — 79%
FY1989	3	0%	0% — 56%
FY1987	1	0%	0% — 79%

By applicant nationality

Grant rate by nationality, largest volumes first
Nationality	decisions	granted	95% interval
HAITI	1,352	9%	7% — 10%
COLOMBIA	751	20%	17% — 23%
GUATEMALA	260	5%	3% — 9%
HONDURAS	252	16%	12% — 21%
VENEZUELA	187	25%	19% — 31%
NICARAGUA	129	26%	20% — 35%
CHINA	111	40%	31% — 49%
EL SALVADOR	101	10%	5% — 17%
PERU	90	19%	12% — 28%
CUBA	86	38%	29% — 49%
INDIA	37	54%	38% — 69%
ALBANIA	37	27%	15% — 43%
MAURITANIA	34	15%	6% — 30%
MEXICO	33	3%	1% — 15%
SOMALIA	31	58%	41% — 74%

How long a case takes

How long it took from service of the NTA to the decision on the application, for the cases this judge has already finished.

16 mo

median

half of cases: 10—27 mo

based on 3,825 cases

NTA-to-decision duration by fiscal year
Decided in	Cases	median	half of cases, mo
FY2019	122	41 mo	32—54
FY2018	245	37 mo	28—46
FY2017	73	29 mo	18—34
FY2016	30	21 mo	18—26
FY2011	33	22 mo	18—53
FY2010	41	30 mo	12—52
FY2009	103	19 mo	14—29
FY2008	143	21 mo	12—33
FY2007	195	16 mo	10—24
FY2006	260	13 mo	9—18

Duration runs from the NTA date (charging document served) to the decision on the application. Median, not mean: the distribution has a long right tail. Cases decided this year may have begun a decade ago, so duration by year of decision is not a forecast for a case filed today.

The queue

Cases with no decision yet. A different figure from the duration of completed cases: quick cases leave the queue first, so the long ones accumulate among those still waiting.

No undecided cases in this release.

What became of appeals to the BIA

An immigration judge's decision can be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals. This is what the Board did with those appeals. A high share of reversals and remands tells a different story than a low grant rate alone.

What became of appeals to the BIA
BIA decision	Appeals
Dismiss Appeal/Affirm IJ's Decision	1,919
Denied	904
Remand	684
Summary Affirmance	667
Lacks Jurisdiction - BIA	176
Dismissed (Grant V/D 30 days)	134
Summarily Dismiss	114
Withdrawal of Appeal	107
Termination	105
Other	83
Deferred Enforced Departure	72
Dismissed (Voluntary Departure Granted)	61
Dismiss as Untimely	49
Granted	47
SUMMARY AFFIRMANCE/VD	47
Temporary Protected Status	39
Sustain	39
Terminate-DHS PD	35
Dismiss Soriano	30
Summary Dismissal (e) no brief	25
Background Check Remand	24
Grant with no Remand	13
Summary Dismissal (a) inad reason on appeal	12
SUMMARY DISMISSAL - BOTH (a) & (e)	10
Rejection	8
Coercive Population Control	6
Moot Bond	4
Dismissed as Moot	3
Granted Soriano	3
Administratively Closed	3
ROP Returned to Court to correct deficiency	2
Denied Soriano	2
Other Soriano	2
Continued	2
American Baptist Church Settlement	1
Summary Dismissal (G) untimely or waived appeal	1

Data comes from the monthly EOIR Case Data release (U.S. DOJ FOIA Library). This service is not affiliated with the U.S. government and does not provide legal advice. The data lags by roughly a month; for current case status use ACIS and Respondent Access. The source is known to have missing records, including relief applications — absent data does not mean it is absent from your case.