Judge Yvonne S. Gonzalez

FY 2017 - 2022, Laredo Immigration Court

Published Oct 26, 2022

Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed Yvonne S. Gonzalez to begin hearing cases inOctober 2017. Judge Gonzalez earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1980 from Trinity Universityand a Juris Doctor in 1983 from St. Mary’s School of Law. From 2012 to 2017, she worked atthe U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Texas, serving as a criminal assistant U.S.attorney in San Antonio from 2012 to 2016, and a special assistant U.S. attorney in the SocialSecurity Administration Anti-Fraud Unit in El Paso, Texas, from 2016 to 2017. From 2006 to2012, she served as a criminal assistant district attorney for the Bexar County District Attorney’sOffice, in San Antonio. From 1999 to 2006, she was a civil litigator at the Law Office of YvonneSalinas Gonzalez, in Laredo, Texas. From 1992 to 1998, she served as a criminal assistant U.S.attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Texas, in Laredo. From 1989 to1991, she served as a criminal assistant district attorney for Webb County District Attorney’sOffice, in Laredo. From 1985 to 1988, she was a civil litigator at the Law Offices of Mann,Freed, Trevino & Hale, in Laredo. Judge Gonzalez is a member of the Texas State Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Gonzalez were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2017 through 2022. During this period, court records show that Judge Gonzalez decided 102 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, she granted asylum for 36, granted 0 other types of relief, and denied relief to 66. Converted to percentage terms, Gonzalez denied 64.7 percent and granted 35.3 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Gonzalez'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 Gonzalez's denial rate of 64.7 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 63.8 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Laredo Immigration Court where Judge Gonzalez decided these cases denied asylum 70 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Gonzalez'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 Gonzalez, 77.5% 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 Gonzalez came from Venezuela. Individuals from this country made up 28.4% of her caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Gonzalez were: Cuba (27.5%), Honduras (27.5%), El Salvador (10.8%), Nicaragua (2.0%). 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%).