Judge Jonathan S. Simpson

FY 2018 - 2023, San Diego Immigration Court

Published Oct 19, 2023

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Judge Simpson to begin hearing cases in November 2015. Judge Simpson received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1995 from Wabash College and a Juris Doctor in 1998 from Seton Hall University. From 2006 through September 2015, Judge Simpson served as assistant chief counsel, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, in Los Angeles and San Diego, Calif. From 1997 through 2006, both domestically and abroad, Judge Simpson served in various capacities as a member of the U.S. Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, including branch chief, officer in charge, and attorney. Judge Simpson is a member of the New Jersey Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Simpson were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2018 through 2023. During this period, court records show that Judge Simpson decided 140 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 54, granted 4 other types of relief, and denied relief to 82. Converted to percentage terms, Simpson denied 58.6 percent and granted 41.5 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Simpson'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 Simpson's denial rate of 58.6 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 60.6 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the San Diego Immigration Court where Judge Simpson decided these cases denied asylum 73.4 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Simpson'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 Simpson, 30.7% 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 Simpson came from Guatemala. Individuals from this country made up 20.0% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Simpson were: Honduras (19.3%), Russia (17.1%), El Salvador (12.9%), Mexico (10.7%). 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%).