Judge Marni Guerrero

FY 2017 - 2022, Florence Immigration Court

Published Oct 26, 2022

Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed Marni Guerrero to begin hearing cases in October2018. Judge Guerrero earned a Bachelor of Science in 1999 from Arizona State University, aJuris Doctor in 2003 from the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law,and a Master of International Affairs in 2010 from the Columbia University School ofInternational and Public Affairs. From 2017 to 2018, she was an assistant chief counsel withImmigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. From 2013 to 2017,she was in private practice. From 2010 to 2013, she served as an assistant U.S. attorney at theU.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona. From 2003 to 2008, she was an attorney withRoush, McCracken, Guerrero, Miller & Ortega in Arizona. Judge Guerrero is a member of theState Bar of Arizona.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Guerrero were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2017 through 2022. During this period, court records show that Judge Guerrero decided 143 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, she granted asylum for 16, granted 6 other types of relief, and denied relief to 121. Converted to percentage terms, Guerrero denied 84.6 percent and granted 15.4 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Guerrero'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 Guerrero's denial rate of 84.6 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 63.8 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Florence Immigration Court where Judge Guerrero decided these cases denied asylum 79.3 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Guerrero'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 Guerrero, 67.1% 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 Guerrero came from Mexico. Individuals from this country made up 30.8% of her caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Guerrero were: Cuba (17.5%), Honduras (15.4%), Guatemala (8.4%), El Salvador (7.7%). 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%).