Judge Kenley Thompson

FY 2019 - 2024, Houston - Gessner Immigration Court

Published Nov 7, 2024

Attorney General William P. Barr appointed Kenley J. Thompson as an immigration judge inMarch 2020. Judge Thompson earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1984 fromPittsburg State University and a Juris Doctor in 1989 from the Washburn University School ofLaw. From 2017 to 2020, he served as the county attorney, in Wilson County, Kansas. From2011 to 2017, he served as the director of fraud investigations and deputy general counsel for theKansas Department of Children and Families, in Topeka. From 2010 to 2011, he served as aregional attorney for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, in Chanute.From 2003 to 2010, he was a project manager, Southeast Kansas, Young Williams Child SupportServices, in Independence. From 1989 to 2019, he also served as a judge advocate for the U.S.Army and Army Reserve in the following locations: Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Leavenworth,Kansas; Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Taszar, Hungary; Eagle Base, Bosnia and Herzegovina;Baumholder, Germany; and Balad, Iraq. Judge Thompson is a member of the State Bar ofKansas and the Nebraska State Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Thompson were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2019 through 2024. During this period, court records show that Judge Thompson decided 229 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 23, granted 31 other types of relief, and denied relief to 175. Converted to percentage terms, Thompson denied 76.4 percent and granted 23.5 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Thompson'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 Thompson's denial rate of 76.4 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 Thompson decided these cases denied asylum 79.6 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Thompson'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 Thompson, 19.7% 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 Thompson came from El Salvador. Individuals from this country made up 27.1% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Thompson were: Honduras (18.3%), Cuba (10.0%), Guatemala (10.0%), Colombia (7.0%). 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%).