Judge Victoria Levin

FY 2018 - 2023, Santa Ana Immigration Court

Published Oct 19, 2023

Victoria Levin was appointed as an Immigration Judge to begin hearing cases in October 2021. Judge Levin earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1988 from Wellesley College, a Master of Arts in 1995 from Boston College, and Juris Doctor in 2004 from the University of Arizona College of Law. From 2009 to 2021, she served as Assistant Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, in Florence, Arizona from 2009 to 2012, and Phoenix, Arizona from 2012 to 2021. From 2007 to 2009, she served as Prosecutor for the Gila River Indian Community, in Sacaton, Arizona. From 2005 to 2007, she served as Assistant Attorney General with the Child and Family Protection Unit at the Arizona Attorney General's Office, in Mesa, Arizona. From 1996 to 2005, she was Program Director and College Chair at the University of Phoenix in Arizona. From 1989 to 1993, she was a Project Manager at Houghton Mifflin Company, in Boston. Judge Levin is a member of the State Bar of Arizona.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Levin were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2018 through 2023. During this period, court records show that Judge Levin decided 134 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, she granted asylum for 111, granted 2 other types of relief, and denied relief to 21. Converted to percentage terms, Levin denied 15.7 percent and granted 84.3 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Levin'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 Levin's denial rate of 15.7 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 60.6 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Santa Ana Immigration Court where Judge Levin decided these cases denied asylum 43.9 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Levin'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 Levin, 0.7% 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 Levin came from China. Individuals from this country made up 20.9% of her caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Levin were: India (14.2%), Mexico (10.4%), Guatemala (6.0%), Syria (6.0%). 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%).