Judge Josephson, Kenneth

Not hearing cases: nothing for over two years

Last hearing: January 12, 2016
Next hearing: none scheduled
Last decision: September 12, 2016

Courts worked at: 21

Worked here before

SEATTLE — IMMIGRATION COURT1975—2016 · 58,218 hearings
CONROE — IMMIGRATION COURT2014—2014 · 221 hearings
TACOMA — IMMIGRATION COURT1973—2012 · 22,376 hearings
IMPERIAL — IMMIGRATION COURT2012—2012 · 12 hearings
FORT SNELLING — IMMIGRATION COURT1993—2009 · 85 hearings
PORTLAND — IMMIGRATION COURT1981—2009 · 6,990 hearings
Orlando — IMMIGRATION COURT2001—2009 · 652 hearings
PHILADELPHIA — IMMIGRATION COURT2004—2006 · 61 hearings
BOSTON — IMMIGRATION COURT1996—2006 · 370 hearings
CHICAGO — IMMIGRATION COURT1992—2005 · 72 hearings
LOS ANGELES — WEST LOS ANGELES IMMIGRATION COURT1996—2005 · 593 hearings
SAN FRANCISCO — IMMIGRATION COURT1989—2003 · 66 hearings
DETROIT — IMMIGRATION COURT1992—2002 · 348 hearings
NEW YORK — IMMIGRATION COURT1991—2002 · 482 hearings
ELIZABETH — IMMIGRATION COURT2000—2001 · 42 hearings
HAGATNA — IMMIGRATION COURT1999—1999 · 84 hearings
FLORENCE — IMMIGRATION COURT1993—1993 · 28 hearings
ATLANTA — IMMIGRATION COURT1991—1991 · 36 hearings
MIAMI — IMMIGRATION COURT1990—1991 · 52 hearings
BALTIMORE — IMMIGRATION COURT1989—1990 · 50 hearings
ANNANDALE — IMMIGRATION COURT1989—1990 · 92 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.

33%

Asylum grant rate

of 5,389 decisions · FY1976–FY2016

95% interval: 31% — 34%

granted:: 1,758
denied:: 3,631

The period has closed

This judge no longer hears cases, so the figure describes FY1976–FY2016 — 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 judge33% (5,389)
The whole court — TACOMA — IMMIGRATION COURT23% (6,548)
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 (5): 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
FY2016	1	0%	0% — 79%
FY2015	77	18%	11% — 28%
FY2014	237	40%	34% — 46%
FY2013	167	43%	35% — 50%
FY2012	322	44%	39% — 50%
FY2011	378	42%	37% — 47%
FY2010	270	44%	38% — 50%
FY2009	220	42%	35% — 48%
FY2008	404	38%	34% — 43%
FY2007	426	37%	33% — 42%
FY2006	315	39%	34% — 45%
FY2005	177	35%	28% — 42%
FY2004	215	29%	24% — 36%
FY2003	275	30%	25% — 36%
FY2002	281	31%	26% — 37%
FY2001	226	36%	30% — 43%
FY2000	174	26%	20% — 33%
FY1999	181	27%	21% — 34%
FY1998	169	26%	20% — 33%
FY1997	135	30%	23% — 39%
FY1996	120	10%	6% — 17%
FY1995	127	9%	5% — 16%
FY1994	97	11%	6% — 19%
FY1993	83	12%	7% — 21%
FY1992	86	8%	4% — 16%
FY1991	147	9%	5% — 15%
FY1990	69	13%	7% — 23%
FY1988	2	50%	9% — 91%
FY1987	2	0%	0% — 66%
FY1986	5	0%	0% — 43%
FY1981	1	0%	0% — 79%

By applicant nationality

Grant rate by nationality, largest volumes first
Nationality	decisions	granted	95% interval
GUATEMALA	506	16%	13% — 19%
EL SALVADOR	489	7%	5% — 9%
MEXICO	485	7%	5% — 10%
INDIA	483	64%	59% — 68%
CHINA	341	48%	43% — 54%
INDONESIA	219	4%	2% — 7%
KENYA	183	53%	46% — 60%
RUSSIA	172	51%	44% — 59%
POLAND	148	1%	0% — 4%
SOMALIA	134	81%	74% — 87%
HONDURAS	130	15%	10% — 23%
COLOMBIA	107	24%	17% — 33%
ETHIOPIA	97	64%	54% — 73%
ERITREA	89	82%	73% — 89%
BULGARIA	84	55%	44% — 65%

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.

12 mo

median

half of cases: 7—20 mo

based on 5,389 cases

NTA-to-decision duration by fiscal year
Decided in	Cases	median	half of cases, mo
FY2015	77	16 mo	7—23
FY2014	237	26 mo	17—35
FY2013	167	19 mo	15—28
FY2012	322	17 mo	14—20
FY2011	378	16 mo	13—28
FY2010	270	15 mo	11—22
FY2009	220	18 mo	16—23
FY2008	404	16 mo	14—32
FY2007	426	12 mo	9—21
FY2006	315	9 mo	7—12

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	1,813
Remand	1,310
Dismissed (Voluntary Departure Granted)	860
Denied	836
Dismissed (Grant V/D 30 days)	696
SUMMARY AFFIRMANCE/VD	398
Withdrawal of Appeal	306
Summary Affirmance	292
Termination	192
Other	185
Granted	165
Sustain	119
Lacks Jurisdiction - BIA	88
Administratively Closed-DHS PD	86
Temporary Protected Status	70
Dismiss Soriano	60
Background Check Remand	51
Grant with no Remand	40
Dismiss as Untimely	40
Summarily Dismiss	32
Terminate-DHS PD	24
Continued	17
Administratively Closed	14
Rejection	11
Moot Bond	10
Granted Soriano	10
Coercive Population Control	9
Summary Dismissal (e) no brief	8
Denied Soriano	5
Summary Dismissal (a) inad reason on appeal	3
SUMMARY DISMISSAL - BOTH (a) & (e)	3
Dismissed as Moot	2
American Baptist Church Settlement	1
MB	1
ANY CONDITIONAL GRANT OF RELIEF-EXCEPT CPC	1
Deferred Enforced Departure	1
Summary Dismissal (o) Other	1
Other Soriano	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.