Judge Charissa Dvorak

FY 2019 - 2024, Houston - Gessner Immigration Court

Published Nov 7, 2024

Attorney General William P. Barr appointed Charissa S. Dvorak as an immigration judge inMarch 2020. Judge Dvorak earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1995 from Baylor University, a Masterof Arts in 1996 from Baylor University, a Juris Doctor in 1999 from Baylor University, and aMaster of Business Administration in 2010 from Houston Baptist University. From 2016 to2020, she was an attorney with Spencer Fane LLP, in Dallas. From 2012 to 2020, she was a leadinvestigator for GRACE, a national non-profit, in Lynchburg, Virginia. From 2000 to 2011, sheserved as an assistant criminal district attorney in Texas for the District Attorney Offices ofHarris County, McLennan County, and Dallas County. Judge Dvorak is a member of the StateBar of Texas.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Dvorak were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2019 through 2024. During this period, court records show that Judge Dvorak decided 187 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, she granted asylum for 37, granted 19 other types of relief, and denied relief to 131. Converted to percentage terms, Dvorak denied 70.1 percent and granted 30.0 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Dvorak'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 Dvorak's denial rate of 70.1 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 57.7 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Houston - Gessner Immigration Court where Judge Dvorak decided these cases denied asylum 79.6 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Dvorak'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 Dvorak, 4.3% 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 Dvorak came from El Salvador. Individuals from this country made up 34.2% of her caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Dvorak were: Honduras (23.5%), Venezuela (19.8%), Guatemala (6.4%), Mexico (6.4%). 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%).