Judge Daniel J. Daugherty

FY 2018 - 2023, Las Vegas Immigration Court

Published Oct 19, 2023

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. appointed Judge Daugherty to begin hearing cases in November 2015. Judge Daugherty received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1984 from Defiance College and a Juris Doctor in 1987 from the University of Toledo, College of Law. From 2008 through 2015 and 2002 through 2005, Judge Daugherty was a member of the Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary, serving in capacities including chief trial judge and circuit judge. Prior to 2008, and when not serving as a member of the Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary, Judge Daugherty served in the Marine Corps in various capacities including deputy staff judge advocate, chief trial counsel (prosecution), prosecutor, senior defense counsel, defense counsel, and special assistant U.S. attorney. Judge Daugherty also has provided legal services in a number of other positions within the Marine Corps and has served as an assistant county prosecutor. Judge Daugherty is a member of the Ohio Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Daugherty were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2018 through 2023. During this period, court records show that Judge Daugherty decided 111 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 21, granted 3 other types of relief, and denied relief to 87. Converted to percentage terms, Daugherty denied 78.4 percent and granted 21.6 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Daugherty'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 Daugherty's denial rate of 78.4 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 60.6 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Las Vegas Immigration Court where Judge Daugherty decided these cases denied asylum 64.8 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Daugherty'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 Daugherty, 23.4% 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 Daugherty came from El Salvador. Individuals from this country made up 28.8% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Daugherty were: Mexico (20.7%), Cameroon (11.7%), Cuba (10.8%), China (4.5%). 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%).