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Judge Ian D. Midgley

FY 2016 - 2021, Jena Immigration Court

Attorney General William Barr appointed Ian D. Midgley to begin hearing cases in October2019. Judge Midgley earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1995 from Youngstown State University and aJuris Doctor in 1998 from Case Western Reserve University School of Law. From 2014 to 2019,he served as a supervisory administrative law judge with the Office of Medicare Hearings andAppeals, Department of Health and Human Services, in Miami. From 2008 to 2014, he served asan assistant chief counsel, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, Immigration and CustomsEnforcement, Department of Homeland Security, in Orlando, Florida. From 2006 to 2008, heserved as an active duty judge advocate for the U.S. Navy, in Yokosuka, Japan. From 2001 to2006, he served as an active duty judge advocate with the U.S. Army, in Kitzingen, Germany,and at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. Since 2009, he has served as a judge advocate with theU.S. Navy Reserve. Judge Midgley is a member of the Florida Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

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Figure 1: Percent of Asylum Matters Denied

Detailed data on Judge Midgley decisions were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2016 through 2021. During this period, Judge Midgley is recorded as deciding 105 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted 11, gave no conditional grants, and denied 94. Converted to percentage terms, Midgley denied 89.5 percent and granted (including conditional grants) 10.5 percent. Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Midgley's denial rate fiscal year-by-year over this recent period. (Rates for years with less than 25 decisions are not shown.)

Nationwide Comparisons

Compared to Judge Midgley's denial rate of 89.5 percent, nationally during this same period, immigration court judges denied 67.6 percent of asylum claims. In the Jena Immigration Court where Judge Midgley was based, judges there denied asylum 91.9 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

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Figure 2: Comparing Denial Rates (percents)

Judge Midgley can also be ranked compared to each of the 558 individual immigration judges serving during this period who rendered at least one hundred decisions in a city's immigration court. If judges were ranked from 1 to 558 - where 1 represented the highest denial percent and 558 represented the lowest - Judge Midgley here receives a rank of 136. That is 135 judges denied asylum at higher rates, and 422 denied asylum at the same rate or less often. Ranks are tallied separately for each immigration court. Should a judge serve on more than one court during this period, separate ranks would be assigned in any court that the judge rendered at least 100 asylum decisions in.

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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Figure 3: Asylum Seeker Had Representation
Representation

If an asylum seeker is not represented by an attorney, almost all (88%) of them are denied asylum. In contrast, a significantly higher proportion of represented asylum seekers are successful. In the case of Judge Midgley, 47.6% were not represented by an attorney. See Figure 3. For the nation as a whole, about 18.3% 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.

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Figure 4: Asylum Decisions by Nationality

For Judge Midgley, the largest group of asylum seekers appearing before him came from Cuba. Individuals from this nation made up 41.9 % of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Midgley were: Nicaragua (10.5 %), Honduras (5.7%), Cameroon (4.8%), Guatemala (3.8%). 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 (18.7%), Guatemala (16.0%), Honduras (15.0%), Mexico (11.8%), China (8.4%), India (3.8%), Cuba (2.7%), Haiti (1.8%), Venezuela (1.6%), Cameroon (1.5%), Nicaragua (1.2%), Nepal (1.2%), Ecuador (1.1%).

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