Judge Richard A. Phelps

FY 2018 - 2023, Eloy Immigration Court

Published Oct 19, 2023

Judge Phelps was appointed as an immigration judge in August 2008. He received a bachelor of business administration in 1977 from Eastern New Mexico University, and a juris doctorate in 1979 from Oklahoma City University School of Law. From July 2001 to August 2008, Judge Phelps was an assistant chief counsel, trial attorney, and senior attorney in the office of the chief counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), DHS. From October 1981 to January 2001, he was in the Air Force serving in many legal capacities including as the staff judge advocate. From September 1980 to October 1981, Judge Phelps was in private practice. From December 1979 to September 1980, he worked as an assistant trust officer, Clovis National Bank, Clovis, N.M. Judge Phelps is a member of the New Mexico Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Phelps were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2018 through 2023. During this period, court records show that Judge Phelps decided 286 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 80, granted 9 other types of relief, and denied relief to 197. Converted to percentage terms, Phelps denied 68.9 percent and granted 31.1 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Phelps'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 Phelps's denial rate of 68.9 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 60.6 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Eloy Immigration Court where Judge Phelps decided these cases denied asylum 61.7 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Phelps'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 Phelps, 62.2% 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 Phelps came from Cuba. Individuals from this country made up 22.7% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Phelps were: Mexico (16.1%), Guatemala (15.7%), Honduras (12.2%), Venezuela (7.0%). 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%).