Judge Patrick J. Ehlers

FY 2018 - 2023, Philadelphia Immigration Court

Published Oct 19, 2023

Attorney General William P. Barr appointed Patrick J. Ehlers as an Immigration Judge inOctober 2020. Judge Ehlers earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1989 from the University ofMassachusetts Amherst and a Juris Doctor in 1993 from the University of Oklahoma College ofLaw. From 2015 to 2020, he served as an assistant U.S. attorney, in Portland, Oregon. Duringthis time, he also served as a resident legal advisor for the Department of Justice’s Office ofOverseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training in Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Malta.From 2003 to 2015, he served as an assistant federal public defender, in Portland. From 1999 to2003, he served as an assistant federal public defender in the Capital Habeas unit, in OklahomaCity. From 1996 to 1998, he served as assistant public defender for the Oklahoma CountyDefender’s Office, in Oklahoma City. From 1995 to 1996, he served as a judicial assistant to theHonorable Charles S. Chapel for the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. From 1993 to 1995,he served as a capital post-conviction defense counsel for the Oklahoma Indigent DefenseSystem, in Norman, Oklahoma. Judge Ehlers is a member of the Oklahoma State Bar, theOregon State Bar, and the U.S. Virgin Islands Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Ehlers were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2018 through 2023. During this period, court records show that Judge Ehlers decided 267 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 132, granted 0 other types of relief, and denied relief to 135. Converted to percentage terms, Ehlers denied 50.6 percent and granted 49.4 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Ehlers'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 Ehlers's denial rate of 50.6 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 60.6 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Philadelphia Immigration Court where Judge Ehlers decided these cases denied asylum 54.7 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Ehlers'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 Ehlers, 2.6% 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 Ehlers came from Guatemala. Individuals from this country made up 22.8% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Ehlers were: Honduras (13.5%), El Salvador (9.0%), Brazil (7.5%), Uzbekistan (7.1%). 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%).