Judge Cynthia Shepherd Torg

FY 2019 - 2024, Arlington Immigration Court

Published Nov 7, 2024

Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed Cynthia Shepherd Torg to begin hearing cases inOctober 2018. Judge Torg earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1989 from the University of Virginia anda Juris Doctor in 1992 from the University of Virginia School of Law. From 1998 to 2018, shewas a senior trial attorney for the Organized Crime and Gang Section, Criminal Division,Department of Justice (DOJ), in Washington, D.C. From 2004 to 2008, she was chief counsel,Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center, Criminal Division, DOJ, in Washington, D.C. From1993 to 1998, she was an assistant commonwealth's attorney in Virginia Beach, Virginia. From1992 to 1993, she clerked for the Honorable Tommy E. Miller, U.S. District Court in the EasternDistrict of Virginia in Norfolk. Judge Torg is a member of the Virginia State Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Torg were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2019 through 2024. During this period, court records show that Judge Torg decided 635 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, she granted asylum for 195, granted 8 other types of relief, and denied relief to 432. Converted to percentage terms, Torg denied 68.0 percent and granted 32.0 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Torg'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 Torg's denial rate of 68.0 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 57.7 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Arlington Immigration Court where Judge Torg decided these cases denied asylum 54.6 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Torg'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 (77%) are denied asylum. In contrast, a significantly higher proportion of represented asylum seekers are successful. In the case of Judge Torg, 6.3% were not represented by an attorney. See Figure 3. For the nation as a whole, about 16.4% 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 Torg came from El Salvador. Individuals from this country made up 46.9% of her caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Torg were: Honduras (22.2%), Guatemala (14.8%), Ethiopia (1.4%), Peru (1.3%). 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 (14.0%), Guatemala (13.2%), Honduras (12.4%), Mexico (8.2%), China (6.1%), India (5.4%), Venezuela (4.0%), Ecuador (3.7%), Nicaragua (3.5%), Colombia (2.9%), Cuba (2.6%), Brazil (2.6%), Russia (2.4%).