Judge Christopher M. Greer

FY 2017 - 2022, West Valley Immigration Court

Published Oct 26, 2022

Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed Christopher M. Greer to begin hearing cases in July 2017. Judge Greer earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989 and a Juris Doctor in 1992 from the University of Utah, and a Master of Laws in 2003 from The Army Judge Advocate General’s School. From 2015 to 2017, he served as deputy chief trial judge at the Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary in Washington, D.C. From 2013 to 2015, and 2006 to 2008, he served as a trial judge at the Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary, Eastern Judicial Circuit at Camp Lejeune, N.C. From 2008 to 2013, he served as a senior legal advisor in Quantico, Va. and Cherry Point, N.C. From 2003 to 2006, he served as an operational law attorney in North Carolina, deploying to both Afghanistan and Iraq. From 1999 to 2002, he served as an attorney advisor and supervisory defense counsel in Naples, Italy. From 1996 to 1999, he served as defense counsel and senior prosecutor in Twentynine Palms, Calif. From 1993 to 1996, he served as a legal assistance attorney and prosecutor in Okinawa, Japan. Judge Greer is a member of the Utah State Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Greer were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2017 through 2022. During this period, court records show that Judge Greer decided 1279 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 346, granted 5 other types of relief, and denied relief to 928. Converted to percentage terms, Greer denied 72.6 percent and granted 27.5 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Greer'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 Greer's denial rate of 72.6 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 63.8 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the West Valley Immigration Court where Judge Greer decided these cases denied asylum 72.1 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Greer'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 Greer, 13.4% 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 Greer came from Mexico. Individuals from this country made up 33.1% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Greer were: Venezuela (19.8%), Guatemala (13.0%), El Salvador (12.8%), Honduras (9.8%). 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 (18.2%), 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%).