Judge John W. Davis

FY 2018 - 2023, Tucson Immigration Court

Published Oct 19, 2023

Judge Davis was appointed as an Immigration Judge in January 2002. He was assigned to the Immigration Court in Eloy, Arizona, in September 2002 after serving eight months as an Immigration Judge in Los Angeles, California. Judge Davis received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1980 from the University of Nebraska-Omaha; a Juris Doctorate in 1987 from Creighton University; and a Master of Laws degree in international law in 1997 from the Army Judge Advocate General's School. From November 1999 to January 2002, Judge Davis worked as an assistant district counsel for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service in Eloy, Arizona. He served in the U.S. Air Force from December 1987 to November 1999. During his tour of duty, Judge Davis served as chief, International and Operations Law, 12th Air Force, Davis- Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, from May 1997 to November 1999 ; deputy staff judge advocate, 20`h Fighter Wing, Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, from June 1994 to June 1996; and circuit trial counsel at Yokota Air Force Base, Japan, from September 1991 to June 1994. Judge Davis is a member of the Nebraska and Arizona State Bars.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Davis were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2018 through 2023. During this period, court records show that Judge Davis decided 314 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 71, granted 22 other types of relief, and denied relief to 221. Converted to percentage terms, Davis denied 70.4 percent and granted 29.6 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Davis'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 Davis's denial rate of 70.4 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 60.6 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Tucson Immigration Court where Judge Davis decided these cases denied asylum 68.6 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Davis'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 (80%) are denied asylum. In contrast, a significantly higher proportion of represented asylum seekers are successful. In the case of Judge Davis, 48.1% were not represented by an attorney. See Figure 3. For the nation as a whole, about 15.7% 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 Davis came from Cuba. Individuals from this country made up 25.8% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Davis were: Mexico (12.1%), Honduras (11.5%), Nicaragua (10.2%), Cameroon (6.1%). 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 (16.6%), Guatemala (15.1%), Honduras (13.8%), Mexico (9.2%), China (6.8%), India (5.1%), Venezuela (3.2%), Ecuador (3.1%), Cuba (2.4%), Nicaragua (2.3%), Brazil (2.0%), Colombia (1.4%), Cameroon (1.4%).