Judge Charles Ouslander

FY 2018 - 2023, New York - Det Immigration Court

Published Oct 19, 2023

Charles M. Ouslander was appointed as an Immigration Judge to begin hearing cases in December 2021. Judge Ouslander earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1984 from Hamilton College and a Juris Doctor in 1987 from Brooklyn Law School. From 2018 to 2021, he was a Senior Staff Attorney with Disability Rights New Jersey, in Trenton. From 2011 to 2018, he served as Designated Counsel for the Office of the Public Defender, Law Guardian, in Trenton. From 2011 to 2014, he served as the Municipal Court Judge, in Hopewell Township, New Jersey. From 2006 to 2010, he served as an Assistant Prosecutor, and then as the First Assistant Prosecutor, with the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office, in Flemington, New Jersey. From 2001 to 2006, he served as a Deputy Attorney General, New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, Division of Criminal Justice, in Trenton. From 1990 to 2001, he served as an Assistant Prosecutor with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, in Trenton. From 1987 to 1989, he served as an Assistant District Attorney with the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, in Brooklyn. Judge Ouslander is a member of the Connecticut Bar, New Jersey State Bar, and New York State Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Ouslander were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2018 through 2023. During this period, court records show that Judge Ouslander decided 175 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 51, granted 1 other types of relief, and denied relief to 123. Converted to percentage terms, Ouslander denied 70.3 percent and granted 29.7 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Ouslander'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 Ouslander's denial rate of 70.3 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 60.6 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the New York - Det Immigration Court where Judge Ouslander decided these cases denied asylum 61.6 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Ouslander'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 Ouslander, 0.6% 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 Ouslander came from . Individuals from this country made up . of his caseload. 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%).