Judge Mark Whitworth

FY 2019 - 2024, Houston - Greenspoint Immigration Court

Published Nov 7, 2024

Mark R. Whitworth was appointed as an Immigration Judge to begin hearing cases in April2021. Judge Whitworth earned a Bachelor of Journalism in 1985 and a Juris Doctor in 1993, bothfrom the University of Texas at Austin. From 2003 to 2021, he served as an Assistant ChiefCounsel, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, Immigration and Customs Enforcement,Department of Homeland Security, in Harlingen, Texas. From 2001 to 2003, he served as anAssistant District Counsel with the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, Office of theDistrict Counsel, Department of Justice, in Harlingen. From 1994 to 2001, he served as anAssistant Attorney General and an Assistant Managing Assistant Attorney General for the TexasOffice of the Attorney General, in Harlingen. From 1993 to 1994, he was an Associate Attorneywith Roerig, Oliveira and Fisher LLP, in Brownsville, Texas. Judge Whitworth is a member ofthe State Bar of Texas.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Whitworth were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2019 through 2024. During this period, court records show that Judge Whitworth decided 216 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 22, granted 12 other types of relief, and denied relief to 182. Converted to percentage terms, Whitworth denied 84.3 percent and granted 15.8 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Whitworth'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 Whitworth's denial rate of 84.3 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 57.7 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Houston - Greenspoint Immigration Court where Judge Whitworth decided these cases denied asylum 87.9 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Whitworth'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 Whitworth, 13.4% 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 Whitworth came from Honduras. Individuals from this country made up 40.7% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Whitworth were: El Salvador (34.3%), Guatemala (9.3%), Mexico (8.3%), Venezuela (4.2%). 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%).