Judge Ann M. McDermott

FY 2017 - 2022, Las Vegas Immigration Court

Published Oct 26, 2022

Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed Ann M. McDermott to begin hearing cases inNovember 2018. Judge McDermott earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1988 from Central MichiganUniversity and a Juris Doctor in 2002 from Gonzaga University School of Law. From 2009 to2018, she served as senior deputy attorney general, chief deputy attorney general, and litigationbureau chief with the Nevada Office of the Attorney General, in Las Vegas. From 2007 to 2009,she was the head administrator for the Real Estate Division of the State of Nevada, in Las Vegas.From 2005 to 2007, she served as a deputy attorney for injured workers for the State of Nevada,in Las Vegas. In 2005, she was a managing attorney with Kimball, Tirev & St. John, in LasVegas. In 2004, she was in-house counsel for Abbey Dental Center, in Las Vegas. From 2003 to2004, she was an associate with Mayor, Horner & Stryker Ltd., in Las Vegas. Judge McDermottis a member of the State Bar of Nevada.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge McDermott were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2017 through 2022. During this period, court records show that Judge McDermott decided 422 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, she granted asylum for 83, granted 13 other types of relief, and denied relief to 326. Converted to percentage terms, McDermott denied 77.3 percent and granted 22.8 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge McDermott'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 McDermott's denial rate of 77.3 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 63.8 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Las Vegas Immigration Court where Judge McDermott decided these cases denied asylum 81.6 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge McDermott'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 McDermott, 20.6% 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 McDermott came from El Salvador. Individuals from this country made up 32.9% of her caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge McDermott were: Mexico (20.1%), Guatemala (11.1%), Honduras (9.2%), Venezuela (3.8%). 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%).