Judge Mahlon F. Hanson

FY 2001 - 2006

Judge Hanson was appointed as an Immigration Judge in March 1995. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota in 1966, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1969. From 1994 to 1995, Judge Hanson served as an assistant district counsel for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in Miami. From 1987 to 1994, he worked as assistant regional counsel for the Northern Region for INS in Fort Snelling, Minnesota. From 1983 to 1987, he was a judge for the Minnesota Workers Compensation Court of Appeals in St. Paul, Minnesota. He served as assistant commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, also in St. Paul, from 1976 to 1983. Judge Hanson served in the Army from 1970 through 1974 (active duty), and from 1974 to 1994 (Army Reserve). He is a member of both the North Dakota and Minnesota Bars.

Deciding Asylum Cases

NAME OF FORMER VARIABLE: 2001
grantrate (Sum): 95.6 NAME OF FORMER VARIABLE: 2002
grantrate (Sum): 99.1 NAME OF FORMER VARIABLE: 2003
grantrate (Sum): 97.3 NAME OF FORMER VARIABLE: 2004
grantrate (Sum): 95.8 NAME OF FORMER VARIABLE: 2005
grantrate (Sum): 99.3 NAME OF FORMER VARIABLE: 2006
grantrate (Sum): 98.8
VBAR chart of fy

Figure 1: Percent of Asylum Matters Denied

Detailed data on Judge Hanson decisions are available for the period covering fiscal years 2001 through 2006. During this period, Judge Hanson is recorded as deciding 1592 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted 37, gave no conditional grants, and denied 1555. Converted to percentage terms, Hanson denied 97.7 percent and granted (including conditional grants) 2.3 percent. Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Hanson's denial rate fiscal year-by-year over this recent period.

Nationwide Comparisons

Compared to Judge Hanson's denial rate of 97.7 percent, nationally during this same period, immigration court judges denied 60.8 percent of asylum claims. In the Miami Immigration Court where Judge Hanson was usually based, judges there denied asylum 78 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

NAME OF FORMER VARIABLE: Judge
percent (Sum): 97.7 NAME OF FORMER VARIABLE: Miami
percent (Sum): 78 NAME OF FORMER VARIABLE: U.S.
percent (Sum): 60.8
VBAR chart of _NAME_

Figure 2: Comparing Denial Rates (percents)

Judge Hanson can also be ranked compared to each of the 238 individual immigration judges serving during this period who rendered at least one hundred decisions. If judges were ranked from 1 to 238 - where 1 represented the highest denial percent and 238 represented the lowest - Judge Hanson receives a rank of 3. That is 2 judges denied asylum at higher rates, and 235 denied asylum at the same rate or less often.

Why Do Denial Rates Vary Among Judges?

Denial rates reflect in part the differing composition of cases assigned to different immigration judges. For example, being represented in court and the nationality of the asylum seeker appear to often impact decision outcome. Decisions also appear to reflect in part the personal perspective that the judge brings to the bench.

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percent: 0.11 (11%) NAME OF FORMER VARIABLE: no
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percent: 0.11 (11%) NAME OF FORMER VARIABLE: yes
percent: 0.89 (89%) NAME OF FORMER VARIABLE: yes
percent: 0.89 (89%) NAME OF FORMER VARIABLE: yes
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percent: 0.89 (89%)
PIE3D chart of represented

Figure 3: Asylum Seeker Had Representation
Representation

If an asylum seeker is not represented by an attorney, almost all (87%) of them are denied asylum. In contrast, a significantly higher proportion of represented asylum seekers are successful. In the case of Judge Hanson, 11.3% were not represented by an attorney. See Figure 3. For the nation as a whole, about 8.2% 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.

nationality: Argentina
Percent of Total Frequency: 2% (1.51%) nationality: Argentina
Percent of Total Frequency: 2% (1.51%) nationality: Argentina
Percent of Total Frequency: 2% (1.51%) nationality: Argentina
Percent of Total Frequency: 2% (1.51%) nationality: Argentina
Percent of Total Frequency: 2% (1.51%) nationality: Argentina
Percent of Total Frequency: 2% (1.51%) nationality: Argentina
Percent of Total Frequency: 2% (1.51%) nationality: Cuba
Percent of Total Frequency: 2% (1.95%) nationality: Cuba
Percent of Total Frequency: 2% (1.95%) nationality: Cuba
Percent of Total Frequency: 2% (1.95%) nationality: Cuba
Percent of Total Frequency: 2% (1.95%) nationality: Cuba
Percent of Total Frequency: 2% (1.95%) nationality: Cuba
Percent of Total Frequency: 2% (1.95%) nationality: Venezuela
Percent of Total Frequency: 4% (4.46%) nationality: Venezuela
Percent of Total Frequency: 4% (4.46%) nationality: Venezuela
Percent of Total Frequency: 4% (4.46%) nationality: Venezuela
Percent of Total Frequency: 4% (4.46%) nationality: Venezuela
Percent of Total Frequency: 4% (4.46%) nationality: Venezuela
Percent of Total Frequency: 4% (4.46%) nationality: Venezuela
Percent of Total Frequency: 4% (4.46%) nationality: Venezuela
Percent of Total Frequency: 4% (4.46%) nationality: Venezuela
Percent of Total Frequency: 4% (4.46%) nationality: Venezuela
Percent of Total Frequency: 4% (4.46%) nationality: Venezuela
Percent of Total Frequency: 4% (4.46%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Other
Percent of Total Frequency: 13% (12.81%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Colombia
Percent of Total Frequency: 37% (37.19%) nationality: Haiti
Percent of Total Frequency: 42% (42.09%) nationality: Haiti
Percent of Total Frequency: 42% (42.09%) nationality: Haiti
Percent of Total Frequency: 42% (42.09%) nationality: Haiti
Percent of Total Frequency: 42% (42.09%) nationality: Haiti
Percent of Total Frequency: 42% (42.09%)
PIE3D chart of nationality

Figure 4: Asylum Decisions by Nationality

For Judge Hanson, the largest group of asylum seekers appearing before him came from Haiti. Individuals from this nation made up 42.1 % of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Hanson were: Colombia (37.2 %), Venezuela (4.5%), Cuba (1.9%), Argentina (1.5%). See Figure 4.

In the nation as a whole during this same period, major nationalities of asylum seekers, in descending order of frequency, were China (22.3%), Colombia (10.2%), Haiti (9.9%), Albania (3.9%), Indonesia (3.8%), India (3.5%), Guatemala (3.1%), El Salvador (2.1%), Armenia (2.1%), Mexico (1.7%), Russia (1.6%), Ethiopia (1.6%), Pakistan (1.5%), and Cameroon (1.4%).

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