Judge Miguel A. Cordero Gonzalez

FY 2017 - 2022, Houston - Gessner Immigration Court

Published Oct 26, 2022

Attorney General Barr appointed Miguel A. Cordero-Gonzalez to begin hearing cases in January 2020. Judge Cordero-Gonzalez earned a Bachelor of Science in 1990 from the University of Puerto Rico and a Juris Doctor in 1993 from the Pontifical Catholic University School of Law. From 2010 to 2019, he served as a state trial court judge, in Puerto Rico. From 1996 to 2019, he served as a judge advocate for the U.S Army Reserve, in Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico and Camp Speicher, Iraq, culminating in a current rank of lieutenant colonel. From 2015 to 2016, he served as a senior defense counsel for the 154th Trial Defense Team, Southeast region in Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico. From 1995 to 2009, he was in private practice. From 1994 to 1995, he served as an assistant to the secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Consumer Affairs Office. Judge Cordero is a member of the State Bar of Puerto Rico.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Cordero Gonzalez were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2017 through 2022. During this period, court records show that Judge Cordero Gonzalez decided 122 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 12, granted 21 other types of relief, and denied relief to 89. Converted to percentage terms, Cordero Gonzalez denied 73.0 percent and granted 27.0 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Cordero 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 Cordero Gonzalez's denial rate of 73.0 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 63.8 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Houston - Gessner Immigration Court where Judge Cordero Gonzalez decided these cases denied asylum 81.5 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Cordero 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 Cordero Gonzalez, 16.4% 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 Cordero Gonzalez came from El Salvador. Individuals from this country made up 27.0% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Cordero Gonzalez were: Honduras (23.8%), Guatemala (16.4%), Mexico (11.5%), Colombia (3.3%). 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%).