Judge Gregory L. Simmons

FY 2019 - 2024, Santa Ana Immigration Court

Published Nov 7, 2024

Attorney General William Barr appointed Gregory L. Simmons to begin hearing cases inOctober 2019. Judge Simmons earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1985 from the University of Texas, aJuris Doctor in 1989 from Baylor University School of Law, and a Master of Laws in 1996 fromthe U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School. In 2013, he retired from theU.S. Marine Corps after a career of 26 years. From 2009 to 2013, he served as a general courts-martial trial judge, in California. From 1989 to 2009, he served as a judge advocate in thefollowing locations: Newport, Rhode Island; Albany, Georgia, including an appointment as aspecial assistant U.S. attorney (SAUSA) for the Middle District of Georgia; Kaneohe Bay andHonolulu, Hawaii, including appointment as a SAUSA for the District of Hawaii; San Diego,California; the Pentagon, District of Columbia; Camp Pendleton, California; and overseas. JudgeSimmons is a member of the Texas State Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Simmons were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2019 through 2024. During this period, court records show that Judge Simmons decided 180 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 39, granted 2 other types of relief, and denied relief to 139. Converted to percentage terms, Simmons denied 77.2 percent and granted 22.8 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Simmons'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 Simmons's denial rate of 77.2 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 57.7 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Santa Ana Immigration Court where Judge Simmons decided these cases denied asylum 53.7 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Simmons'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 Simmons, 9.4% 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 Simmons came from Nicaragua. Individuals from this country made up 17.2% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Simmons were: China (14.4%), Mexico (12.8%), Colombia (10.0%), Guatemala (6.7%). 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%).