Judge Joyce A. Bakke Varzandeh

FY 2017 - 2022, Los Angeles Immigration Court

Published Oct 26, 2022

Judge Bakke Varzandeh was appointed as an immigration judge in November 2009. Shereceived a bachelor of arts degree in 1995 from Louisiana State University and a juris doctoratein 1998 from Southern University Law Center. For ICE, DHS, in Los Angeles, Judge BakkeVarzandeh held several positions: from 2008 to November 2009, Judge Bakke Varzandeh servedas a deputy chief counsel; from 2007 to 2008, she served as a senior attorney; and from 2003 to2007, she worked as an assistant chief counsel. From 1998 to 2003, Judge Bakke Varzandehserved as an assistant district counsel for the former INS in Los Angeles. From 1997 to 1998,she served as a law clerk for the U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Louisiana. From1996 to 1997, Judge Bakke Varzandeh worked as a law clerk in the Office of the AttorneyGeneral, Louisiana Department of Justice, in Baton Rouge, La. Judge Bakke Varzandeh is amember of the Louisiana State Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Bakke Varzandeh were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2017 through 2022. During this period, court records show that Judge Bakke Varzandeh decided 432 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, she granted asylum for 133, granted 14 other types of relief, and denied relief to 285. Converted to percentage terms, Bakke Varzandeh denied 66.0 percent and granted 34.0 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Bakke Varzandeh'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 Bakke Varzandeh's denial rate of 66.0 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 63.8 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Los Angeles Immigration Court where Judge Bakke Varzandeh decided these cases denied asylum 70.5 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Bakke Varzandeh'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 (83%) are denied asylum. In contrast, a significantly higher proportion of represented asylum seekers are successful. In the case of Judge Bakke Varzandeh, 9% were not represented by an attorney. See Figure 3. For the nation as a whole, about 16.7% 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 Bakke Varzandeh came from El Salvador. Individuals from this country made up 33.1% of her caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Bakke Varzandeh were: China (16.0%), Guatemala (11.8%), Mexico (11.8%), Honduras (10.2%). 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 (18.2%), Guatemala (16.0%), Honduras (14.6%), Mexico (10.5%), China (7.5%), India (4.5%), Cuba (2.5%), Venezuela (2.1%), Ecuador (2.1%), Nicaragua (1.9%), Haiti (1.7%), Cameroon (1.5%), Nepal (1.2%).