Judge Robert L. Powell

FY 2018 - 2023, Los Fresnos Immigration Court

Published Oct 19, 2023

Attorney General Eric Holder appointed Judge Powell in August 2010. Judge Powell received a bachelor of arts degree in 1970 from Tulane University and a juris doctorate in 1973 from St. Mary's University School of Law. From 2001 to August 2010, he worked as an administrative judge for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in San Antonio, Texas. From 1998 to 2001, Judge Powell was an administrative law attorney for the U.S. Department of the Army. From 1996 to 1998, he was an administrative law attorney for the Panama Canal Commission, where, from 1977 to 1982, he worked in the same capacity. From 1982 to 1996, Judge Powell was in private practice. From 1973 to 1977, he served in the U.S. Army, Judge Advocate General Corps. Judge Powell is a member of the State Bar of Texas.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Powell were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2018 through 2023. During this period, court records show that Judge Powell decided 108 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 7, granted 0 other types of relief, and denied relief to 101. Converted to percentage terms, Powell denied 93.5 percent and granted 6.5 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Powell's denial rate each fiscal year over this recent period. (Rates for years with less than 25 decisions are not shown.)

Nationwide Comparisons

Compared to Judge Powell's denial rate of 93.5 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 60.6 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Los Fresnos Immigration Court where Judge Powell decided these cases denied asylum 84.7 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Powell's asylum grant and denial rates are compared with other judges serving on the same court in this table. Note that when an Immigration Judge serves on more than one court during the same period, separate Immigration Judge reports are created for any Court in which the judge rendered at least 100 asylum decisions.

Why Do Denial Rates Vary Among Judges?

Although denial rates are shaped by each Judge's judicial philosophy, denial rates are also shaped by other factors, such as the types of cases on the Judge's docket, the detained status of immigrant respondents, current immigration policies, and other factors beyond an individual Judge's control. For example, TRAC has previously found that legal representation and the nationality of the asylum seeker are just two factors that appear to impact asylum decision outcomes.

The composition of cases may differ significantly between Immigration Courts in the country. Within a single Court when cases are randomly assigned to judges sitting on that Court, each Judge should have roughly a similar composition of cases given a sufficient number of asylum cases. Then variations in asylum decisions among Judges on the same Immigration Court would appear to reflect, at least in part, the judicial philosophy that the Judge brings to the bench. However, if judges within a Court are assigned to specialized dockets or hearing locations, then case compositions are likely to continue to differ and can contribute to differences in asylum denial rates.

Representation

When asylum seekers are not represented by an attorney, almost all of them (80%) are denied asylum. In contrast, a significantly higher proportion of represented asylum seekers are successful. In the case of Judge Powell, 64.8% were not represented by an attorney. See Figure 3. For the nation as a whole, about 15.7% of asylum seekers are not represented.

Nationality

Asylum seekers are a diverse group. Over one hundred different nationalities had at least one hundred individuals claiming asylum decided during this period. As might be expected, immigration courts located in different parts of the country tend to have proportionately larger shares from some countries than from others. And, given the required legal grounds for a successful asylum claim, asylum seekers from some nations tend to be more successful than others.

The largest group of asylum seekers appearing before Judge Powell came from Eritrea. Individuals from this country made up 25.9% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Powell were: Honduras (15.7%), Guatemala (14.8%), Mexico (8.3%), El Salvador (5.6%). See Figure 4.

In the nation as a whole during this same period, major nationalities of asylum seekers, in descending order of frequency, were El Salvador (16.6%), Guatemala (15.1%), Honduras (13.8%), Mexico (9.2%), China (6.8%), India (5.1%), Venezuela (3.2%), Ecuador (3.1%), Cuba (2.4%), Nicaragua (2.3%), Brazil (2.0%), Colombia (1.4%), Cameroon (1.4%).