Judge Vinikoor, Robert D.

Not hearing cases: nothing for over two years

Last hearing: June 11, 2021
Next hearing: none scheduled
Last decision: April 18, 2025

Courts worked at: 18

Worked here before

CHICAGO — IMMIGRATION COURT1972—2021 · 78,922 hearings
SAN DIEGO — IMMIGRATION COURT2017—2017 · 208 hearings
ELIZABETH — IMMIGRATION COURT2016—2016 · 121 hearings
PEARSALL — IMMIGRATION COURT2014—2014 · 160 hearings
KANSAS CITY — IMMIGRATION COURT1979—2010 · 13,353 hearings
OMAHA — IMMIGRATION COURT1990—2009 · 156 hearings
FORT SNELLING — IMMIGRATION COURT1975—2006 · 7,884 hearings
SAN FRANCISCO — IMMIGRATION COURT2000—2002 · 17 hearings
HAGATNA — IMMIGRATION COURT1999—1999 · 94 hearings
NEW YORK — IMMIGRATION COURT1997—1998 · 38 hearings
DETROIT — IMMIGRATION COURT1981—1996 · 77 hearings
PHILADELPHIA — IMMIGRATION COURT1985—1992 · 1,385 hearings
ATLANTA — IMMIGRATION COURT1992—1992 · 21 hearings
NEWARK — IMMIGRATION COURT1989—1990 · 10 hearings
BOSTON — IMMIGRATION COURT1989—1989 · 27 hearings
ANNANDALE — IMMIGRATION COURT1987—1989 · 99 hearings
BALTIMORE — IMMIGRATION COURT1987—1989 · 57 hearings
MIAMI — IMMIGRATION COURT1981—1986 · 78 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.

30%

Asylum grant rate

of 3,890 decisions · FY1973–FY2018

95% interval: 28% — 31%

granted:: 1,151
denied:: 2,739

The period has closed

This judge no longer hears cases, so the figure describes FY1973–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 judge30% (3,890)
The whole court — CHICAGO — IMMIGRATION COURT42% (35,363)
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
FY2017	88	45%	35% — 56%
FY2016	62	47%	35% — 59%
FY2015	93	48%	38% — 58%
FY2014	64	47%	35% — 59%
FY2013	111	42%	34% — 52%
FY2012	82	51%	41% — 62%
FY2011	116	39%	30% — 48%
FY2010	113	42%	33% — 51%
FY2009	130	47%	39% — 55%
FY2008	130	36%	28% — 45%
FY2007	159	33%	26% — 41%
FY2006	136	37%	29% — 45%
FY2005	191	19%	14% — 25%
FY2004	204	19%	14% — 25%
FY2003	199	24%	19% — 31%
FY2002	196	28%	22% — 35%
FY2001	189	29%	23% — 36%
FY2000	169	22%	17% — 29%
FY1999	191	21%	16% — 27%
FY1998	142	25%	18% — 32%
FY1997	113	25%	18% — 33%
FY1996	90	26%	18% — 35%
FY1995	82	18%	11% — 28%
FY1994	82	21%	13% — 31%
FY1993	66	18%	11% — 29%
FY1992	61	21%	13% — 33%
FY1991	55	44%	31% — 57%
FY1990	143	19%	13% — 26%
FY1989	131	21%	15% — 28%
FY1988	126	28%	21% — 36%
FY1987	84	38%	28% — 49%
FY1986	51	24%	14% — 37%
FY1985	32	13%	5% — 28%
FY1984	4	0%	0% — 49%
FY1983	1	0%	0% — 79%
FY1982	1	0%	0% — 79%
FY1981	1	0%	0% — 79%
FY1980	2	0%	0% — 66%

By applicant nationality

Grant rate by nationality, largest volumes first
Nationality	decisions	granted	95% interval
CHINA	404	42%	38% — 47%
GUATEMALA	312	10%	7% — 14%
EL SALVADOR	224	14%	10% — 19%
POLAND	166	10%	6% — 16%
PAKISTAN	131	19%	13% — 27%
ALBANIA	125	39%	31% — 48%
INDIA	99	9%	5% — 16%
Former Countries	94	17%	11% — 26%
SOMALIA	88	40%	30% — 50%
IRAN	86	62%	51% — 71%
ROMANIA	83	22%	14% — 32%
HONDURAS	82	23%	15% — 33%
ETHIOPIA	81	46%	35% — 56%
BULGARIA	78	22%	14% — 32%
RUSSIA	78	45%	34% — 56%

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.

17 mo

median

half of cases: 10—29 mo

based on 3,890 cases

NTA-to-decision duration by fiscal year
Decided in	Cases	median	half of cases, mo
FY2017	88	18 mo	15—38
FY2016	62	35 mo	19—54
FY2015	93	31 mo	21—41
FY2014	64	27 mo	13—39
FY2013	111	30 mo	17—50
FY2012	82	28 mo	16—52
FY2011	116	28 mo	11—46
FY2010	113	31 mo	21—56
FY2009	130	24 mo	15—52
FY2008	130	25 mo	14—34

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	1,986
Remand	882
Denied	790
Dismissed (Grant V/D 30 days)	498
Summary Affirmance	391
Dismissed (Voluntary Departure Granted)	374
Continued	324
Withdrawal of Appeal	317
SUMMARY AFFIRMANCE/VD	244
Other	163
Granted	156
Temporary Protected Status	125
Termination	110
Summarily Dismiss	92
Lacks Jurisdiction - BIA	79
Dismiss Soriano	74
Sustain	68
Background Check Remand	43
Grant with no Remand	36
Dismiss as Untimely	25
American Baptist Church Settlement	18
Moot Bond	15
Rejection	14
Administratively Closed	14
Terminate-DHS PD	9
Deferred Enforced Departure	9
Administrative Return	6
Summary Dismissal (e) no brief	6
Administratively Closed-DHS PD	5
Denied Soriano	5
Coercive Population Control	4
Granted Soriano	2
Other Soriano	1
—	1
Dismissed as Moot	1
SUMMARY DISMISSAL - BOTH (a) & (e)	1
MB	1
Summary Dismissal (o) Other	1
Summary Dismissal (a) inad reason on 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.