Judge Zol Rainey

FY 2019 - 2024, Charlotte Immigration Court

Published Nov 7, 2024

Zol D. Rainey was appointed as a Unit Chief Immigration Judge to begin supervisory immigration court duties and hearing cases in December 2021. Judge Rainey earned a Bachelor of Science in 1992 from Old Dominion University, a Juris Doctor in 2000 from The John Marshall Law School, and a Master of Laws in 2005 from The George Washington University Law School. From 2012 to 2021, he served as a Senior Litigation Counsel and Enforcement Attorney, Office of Enforcement, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in the District of Columbia. From 2011 to 2012, he served as an Acting Chief and Deputy Chief, Executive Communications Unit, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in the District of Columbia. From 2009 to 2011, he served as an Assistant Chief Counsel, Office of Chief Counsel, OPLA, ICE, DHS, in Arlington, Virginia. From 2005 to 2009, he served as an Assistant Criminal Section Chief and Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia. From 2000 to 2005, he served as a Judge Advocate for the U.S. Navy, in the following locations: Washington Navy Yard, District of Columbia; the Pentagon; U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland; and Norfolk, Virginia. Judge Rainey is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, Illinois State Bar, and Virginia State Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Rainey were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2019 through 2024. During this period, court records show that Judge Rainey decided 129 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 24, granted 1 other types of relief, and denied relief to 104. Converted to percentage terms, Rainey denied 80.6 percent and granted 19.4 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Rainey'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 Rainey's denial rate of 80.6 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 57.7 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Charlotte Immigration Court where Judge Rainey decided these cases denied asylum 84.3 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Rainey'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 Rainey, 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 Rainey came from Honduras. Individuals from this country made up 38.8% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Rainey were: Mexico (14.7%), Guatemala (12.4%), El Salvador (10.1%), Brazil (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%).