Judge John C. Odell

FY 2017 - 2022, Tacoma Immigration Court

Published Oct 26, 2022

Attorney General Eric Holder appointed Judge Odell in April 2013. Judge Odell received a bachelor of science degree in 1983 from the United States Coast Guard Academy and a juris doctorate in 1994 from the Seattle University School of Law. From October 2007 to April 2013, he served as an assistant chief counsel, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in Seattle, Wash., where, from December 2008 to December 2010, he served as a special assistant U.S. attorney. From 1997 to 2007, Judge Odell served in the U.S. Coast Guard where he held various legal positions, including staff judge advocate, 13th Coast Guard District, Seattle, and Coast Guard Academy, New London, Conn.; military judge, U.S. Coast Guard; senior defense counsel, Naval Legal Services Office, Bremerton, Wash.; and assistant legal officer, 13th Coast Guard District. Judge Odell is a member of the Washington State Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Odell were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2017 through 2022. During this period, court records show that Judge Odell decided 558 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 140, granted 10 other types of relief, and denied relief to 408. Converted to percentage terms, Odell denied 73.1 percent and granted 26.9 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Odell'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 Odell's denial rate of 73.1 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 63.8 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Tacoma Immigration Court where Judge Odell decided these cases denied asylum 69.7 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Odell'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 Odell, 40.1% 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 Odell came from Mexico. Individuals from this country made up 34.8% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Odell were: Cuba (6.5%), Cameroon (5.9%), El Salvador (5.4%), Honduras (5.4%). 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%).