Judge Richardson, John W.

Not hearing cases: nothing for over two years

Last hearing: September 10, 2020
Next hearing: none scheduled
Last decision: August 9, 2022

Courts worked at: 15

Worked here before

PHOENIX — IMMIGRATION COURT1979—2020 · 95,414 hearings
SAN DIEGO — IMMIGRATION COURT2017—2017 · 110 hearings
PEARSALL — IMMIGRATION COURT2015—2015 · 36 hearings
IMPERIAL — IMMIGRATION COURT2011—2011 · 43 hearings
FLORENCE — IMMIGRATION COURT1984—2010 · 12,138 hearings
ADELANTO — IMMIGRATION COURT2008—2009 · 17 hearings
TUCSON — IMMIGRATION COURT1988—2008 · 1,301 hearings
SAN FRANCISCO — IMMIGRATION COURT1999—2003 · 67 hearings
HONOLULU — IMMIGRATION COURT1999—2000 · 19 hearings
HAGATNA — IMMIGRATION COURT1999—1999 · 60 hearings
LAS VEGAS — IMMIGRATION COURT1986—1998 · 2,630 hearings
ELIZABETH — IMMIGRATION COURT1993—1997 · 22 hearings
ANNANDALE — IMMIGRATION COURT1989—1990 · 47 hearings
BALTIMORE — IMMIGRATION COURT1989—1990 · 32 hearings
MIAMI — IMMIGRATION COURT1990—1990 · 115 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.

63%

Asylum grant rate

of 1,321 decisions · FY1983–FY2018

95% interval: 60% — 65%

granted:: 831
denied:: 490

The period has closed

This judge no longer hears cases, so the figure describes FY1983–FY2018 — 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 judge63% (1,321)
The whole court — PHOENIX — IMMIGRATION COURT24% (10,998)
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 (4): 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
FY2018	71	68%	56% — 77%
FY2017	58	90%	79% — 95%
FY2016	30	100%	89% — 100%
FY2015	33	100%	90% — 100%
FY2014	23	96%	79% — 99%
FY2013	10	70%	40% — 89%
FY2012	30	77%	59% — 88%
FY2011	37	73%	57% — 85%
FY2010	32	69%	51% — 82%
FY2009	25	84%	65% — 94%
FY2008	36	83%	68% — 92%
FY2007	36	69%	53% — 82%
FY2006	50	82%	69% — 90%
FY2005	61	84%	72% — 91%
FY2004	53	85%	73% — 92%
FY2003	68	59%	47% — 70%
FY2002	71	75%	63% — 83%
FY2001	53	81%	69% — 89%
FY2000	46	65%	51% — 77%
FY1999	53	53%	40% — 66%
FY1998	32	41%	26% — 58%
FY1997	52	21%	12% — 34%
FY1996	82	23%	15% — 33%
FY1995	62	31%	21% — 43%
FY1994	27	41%	25% — 59%
FY1993	41	41%	28% — 57%
FY1992	61	64%	51% — 75%
FY1991	56	43%	31% — 56%
FY1990	25	28%	14% — 48%
FY1989	2	0%	0% — 66%
FY1987	1	0%	0% — 79%
FY1986	2	0%	0% — 66%
FY1985	2	0%	0% — 66%

By applicant nationality

Grant rate by nationality, largest volumes first
Nationality	decisions	granted	95% interval
CHINA	249	86%	81% — 90%
GUATEMALA	230	33%	27% — 39%
MEXICO	91	51%	40% — 61%
EL SALVADOR	82	22%	14% — 32%
BULGARIA	64	73%	62% — 83%
HONDURAS	59	51%	38% — 63%
ALBANIA	38	82%	67% — 91%
COLOMBIA	36	83%	68% — 92%
INDIA	34	71%	54% — 83%
IRAN	33	88%	73% — 95%
NICARAGUA	33	18%	9% — 34%
ROMANIA	23	48%	29% — 67%
IRAQ	21	95%	77% — 99%
SYRIA	18	94%	74% — 99%
NIGERIA	16	69%	44% — 86%

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.

15 mo

median

half of cases: 8—30 mo

based on 1,321 cases

NTA-to-decision duration by fiscal year
Decided in	Cases	median	half of cases, mo
FY2018	71	26 mo	22—43
FY2017	58	27 mo	15—41
FY2016	30	38 mo	23—60
FY2015	33	34 mo	22—59
FY2012	30	50 mo	37—58
FY2011	37	33 mo	24—53
FY2010	32	37 mo	25—41
FY2008	36	18 mo	13—30
FY2007	36	36 mo	26—59
FY2006	50	31 mo	26—35

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	705
Remand	552
Denied	285
Dismissed (Voluntary Departure Granted)	173
Dismissed (Grant V/D 30 days)	164
Summary Affirmance	158
Withdrawal of Appeal	153
SUMMARY AFFIRMANCE/VD	129
Background Check Remand	112
Sustain	102
Other	94
Granted	75
Dismiss Soriano	72
Lacks Jurisdiction - BIA	48
Termination	40
Administratively Closed-DHS PD	27
Temporary Protected Status	27
Continued	24
Summarily Dismiss	18
Dismiss as Untimely	15
Grant with no Remand	11
American Baptist Church Settlement	8
Rejection	6
Terminate-DHS PD	6
Moot Bond	6
Summary Dismissal (e) no brief	5
Summary Dismissal (a) inad reason on appeal	5
SUMMARY DISMISSAL - BOTH (a) & (e)	4
Granted Soriano	4
Administratively Closed	4
Denied Soriano	4
Coercive Population Control	3
Dismissed as Moot	2
ROP Returned to Court to correct deficiency	2
Deferred Enforced Departure	2
Conditional Grant--CPC Asylum	2
Other Soriano	1
Summary Dismissal (G) untimely or waived appeal	1
Summary Dismissal (o) Other	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.