Judge Joyce Noche

FY 2018 - 2023, Santa Ana Immigration Court

Published Oct 19, 2023

Joyce L. Noche was appointed as an Immigration Judge to begin hearing cases in March 2022. Judge Noche earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1996 from the University of Southern California and a Juris Doctor in 1999 from the University of California at Davis School of Law. From 2018 to 2022, she was the Legal Services Director at Immigrant Defenders Law Center. From 2016 to 2018, she was a Senior Attorney with Stone Grzegorek and Gonzalez LLP. From 2013 to 2016, she was a Directing Attorney with Public Law Center. From 2011 to 2013, she was a Supervising Attorney with Asian Americans Advancing Justice. From 2006 to 2011, she served as an Asylum Officer, Quality Assurance Trainer, and Supervisory Asylum Officer with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From 2003 to 2005, she was a Staff Attorney with Legal Momentum. From 1999 to 2003, she was an Equal Justice Fellow and Staff Attorney with Legal Aid Society of New York. She is a Certified Legal Specialist in Immigration from the State Bar of California. Judge Noche is a member of the State Bar of California and New York State Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Noche were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2018 through 2023. During this period, court records show that Judge Noche decided 153 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, she granted asylum for 104, granted 3 other types of relief, and denied relief to 46. Converted to percentage terms, Noche denied 30.1 percent and granted 70.0 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Noche'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 Noche's denial rate of 30.1 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 Noche decided these cases denied asylum 43.9 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Noche'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 Noche, 3.9% 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 Noche came from Nicaragua. Individuals from this country made up 16.3% of her caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Noche were: China (15.0%), India (9.8%), Egypt (7.8%), Mexico (7.8%). 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%).