Judge Anna C. Little

FY 2019 - 2024, San Francisco Immigration Court

Published Nov 7, 2024

Then-Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker appointed Anna C. Little to begin hearingcases in March 2019. Judge Little earned a Business Certificate in 1988 from Sophia UniversityTokyo Japan, a Bachelor of Arts in 1989 from Seton Hall University, and a Juris Doctor in 1992from Seton Hall University School of Law. From 1994 to 2018, she was a solo practitioner inHighlands, New Jersey. From 2008 to 2010, she served as mayor of Highlands. From 2006 to2007, she served as freeholder, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Judge Little is a member of theNew Jersey State Bar and the Pennsylvania Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Little were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2019 through 2024. During this period, court records show that Judge Little decided 725 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, she granted asylum for 590, granted 11 other types of relief, and denied relief to 124. Converted to percentage terms, Little denied 17.1 percent and granted 82.9 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Little'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 Little's denial rate of 17.1 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 57.7 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the San Francisco Immigration Court where Judge Little decided these cases denied asylum 28.3 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Little'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 Little, 7.9% 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 Little came from India. Individuals from this country made up 21.9% of her caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Little were: El Salvador (21.4%), Mexico (18.2%), Guatemala (16.4%), Honduras (4.8%). 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 (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%).