Judge Philip Verrillo

FY 2018 - 2023, Hartford Immigration Court

Published Oct 19, 2023

Judge Verrillo was appointed as an immigration judge in August 2008. He received a bachelor of arts degree in 1991 from Central Connecticut State University and a juris doctorate in 1995 from the New England School of Law. From February 2001 to August 2008, he served as both the Assistant and Court Administrator for the Immigration Court in Hartford, Conn. From December 2000 to January 2001, Judge Verrillo was a special deputy assistant State's Attorney in Rocky Hill, Conn. From February 1996 to May 2000, he was in private practice. From January 2001 to spring 2005, Judge Verrillo was an adjunct faculty member of New England College of Finance. He is a member of the Connecticut Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Verrillo were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2018 through 2023. During this period, court records show that Judge Verrillo decided 543 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 181, granted 7 other types of relief, and denied relief to 355. Converted to percentage terms, Verrillo denied 65.4 percent and granted 34.6 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Verrillo'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 Verrillo's denial rate of 65.4 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 60.6 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Hartford Immigration Court where Judge Verrillo decided these cases denied asylum 72.8 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Verrillo'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 Verrillo, 5.9% 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 Verrillo came from Guatemala. Individuals from this country made up 31.3% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Verrillo were: Honduras (18.4%), El Salvador (13.1%), Brazil (10.5%), Ecuador (7.2%). 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%).