Judge Costanzo, Lawrence Di

Not hearing cases: nothing for over two years

Last hearing: January 31, 2012
Next hearing: none scheduled
Last decision: January 31, 2012

Courts worked at: 11

Worked here before

SAN FRANCISCO — IMMIGRATION COURT1982—2012 · 40,636 hearings
TACOMA — IMMIGRATION COURT2010—2010 · 305 hearings
ADELANTO — IMMIGRATION COURT2007—2007 · 26 hearings
PEARSALL — IMMIGRATION COURT2006—2007 · 34 hearings
LAREDO — IMMIGRATION COURT2006—2007 · 19 hearings
SAN ANTONIO — IMMIGRATION COURT2006—2007 · 13 hearings
HARTFORD — IMMIGRATION COURT2002—2007 · 49 hearings
BOSTON — IMMIGRATION COURT2003—2006 · 52 hearings
NEWARK — IMMIGRATION COURT2002—2006 · 33 hearings
NEW YORK — IMMIGRATION COURT1997—1998 · 34 hearings
ATLANTA — IMMIGRATION COURT1991—1991 · 27 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.

47%

Asylum grant rate

of 2,641 decisions · FY1984–FY2012

95% interval: 45% — 49%

granted:: 1,244
denied:: 1,397

The period has closed

This judge no longer hears cases, so the figure describes FY1984–FY2012 — 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 judge47% (2,641)
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
FY2012	15	60%	36% — 80%
FY2011	35	37%	23% — 54%
FY2010	71	34%	24% — 45%
FY2009	81	52%	41% — 62%
FY2008	101	46%	36% — 55%
FY2007	125	57%	48% — 65%
FY2006	120	48%	40% — 57%
FY2005	111	63%	54% — 71%
FY2004	133	54%	46% — 62%
FY2003	138	62%	53% — 69%
FY2002	148	57%	49% — 64%
FY2001	125	65%	56% — 73%
FY2000	114	62%	53% — 71%
FY1999	133	41%	33% — 49%
FY1998	129	38%	30% — 47%
FY1997	111	38%	29% — 47%
FY1996	123	37%	29% — 46%
FY1995	163	31%	25% — 39%
FY1994	207	39%	32% — 45%
FY1993	187	37%	31% — 45%
FY1992	181	53%	46% — 60%
FY1991	60	43%	32% — 56%
FY1990	15	20%	7% — 45%
FY1989	5	0%	0% — 43%
FY1988	2	0%	0% — 66%
FY1987	2	0%	0% — 66%
FY1986	4	25%	5% — 70%
FY1985	2	0%	0% — 66%

By applicant nationality

Grant rate by nationality, largest volumes first
Nationality	decisions	granted	95% interval
INDIA	620	52%	48% — 56%
EL SALVADOR	284	24%	20% — 30%
GUATEMALA	176	30%	24% — 37%
NICARAGUA	172	34%	27% — 41%
CHINA	169	67%	59% — 74%
FIJI	153	32%	25% — 40%
PHILIPPINES	104	22%	15% — 31%
PERU	99	81%	72% — 87%
MEXICO	90	26%	18% — 35%
INDONESIA	56	36%	24% — 49%
AFGHANISTAN	51	76%	63% — 86%
PAKISTAN	47	62%	47% — 74%
ARMENIA	36	58%	42% — 73%
HONDURAS	31	26%	14% — 43%
ETHIOPIA	30	77%	59% — 88%

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.

20 mo

median

half of cases: 13—33 mo

based on 2,641 cases

NTA-to-decision duration by fiscal year
Decided in	Cases	median	half of cases, mo
FY2011	35	42 mo	25—54
FY2010	71	36 mo	13—54
FY2009	81	23 mo	11—33
FY2008	101	25 mo	16—47
FY2007	125	19 mo	9—37
FY2006	120	33 mo	15—43
FY2005	111	24 mo	6—38
FY2004	133	21 mo	13—51
FY2003	138	19 mo	9—33
FY2002	148	14 mo	5—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
Remand	664
Dismiss Appeal/Affirm IJ's Decision	593
Denied	467
Dismissed (Grant V/D 30 days)	367
Summary Affirmance	167
SUMMARY AFFIRMANCE/VD	166
Dismissed (Voluntary Departure Granted)	138
Withdrawal of Appeal	123
Granted	116
Sustain	74
Other	69
Termination	55
Temporary Protected Status	55
Background Check Remand	35
Continued	33
Dismiss Soriano	30
Summarily Dismiss	22
Lacks Jurisdiction - BIA	21
Administratively Closed-DHS PD	18
Dismiss as Untimely	15
Grant with no Remand	15
Summary Dismissal (e) no brief	6
Granted Soriano	5
Rejection	4
SUMMARY DISMISSAL - BOTH (a) & (e)	1
Denied Soriano	1
Terminate-DHS PD	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.