Judge Sheila E. Gallow

FY 2018 - 2023, Atlanta - Atd Immigration Court

Published Oct 19, 2023

Attorney General Barr appointed Sheila E. Gallow to begin hearing cases in January 2020. Judge Gallow earned a Bachelor of Arts in 2003 from Auburn University and a Juris Doctor in 2006 from Samford University, Cumberland School of Law. From 2016 to 2019, she served as an assistant chief counsel, Office of Chief Counsel, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, in Atlanta. From 2011 to 2016, she served as the chief assistant district attorney in the Atlanta Judicial Circuit. From 2007 to 2011, she served as an assistant attorney general with the Office of Georgia Attorney General, in Atlanta. Since 2012, she has also served as a judge advocate with the U.S. Army Reserves, serving as an administrative law attorney, trial counsel, legal advisor for FEMA Region IV, and brigade judge advocate in the following locations: Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Gordon, Georgia; and Fort Benning, Georgia. Judge Gallow is a member of the State Bar of Georgia.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Gallow were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2018 through 2023. During this period, court records show that Judge Gallow decided 100 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, she granted asylum for 11, granted 2 other types of relief, and denied relief to 87. Converted to percentage terms, Gallow denied 87.0 percent and granted 13.0 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Gallow'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 Gallow's denial rate of 87.0 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 60.6 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Atlanta - Atd Immigration Court where Judge Gallow decided these cases denied asylum 87.5 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Gallow'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 Gallow, 40% 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 Gallow came from Honduras. Individuals from this country made up 16.0% of her caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Gallow were: Venezuela (11.0%), Guatemala (10.0%), China (9.0%), Mexico (9.0%). 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%).