Judge George J. Ward Jr.

FY 2019 - 2024, Bloomington Immigration Court

Published Nov 7, 2024

Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed George J. Ward Jr. to begin hearing cases in August2018. Judge Ward earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1988 from Bucknell University and aJuris Doctor in 1993 from St. John’s University School of Law. From 1999 to 2018, he served inseveral positions with the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, Immigration and CustomsEnforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in both Arlington, Va., andWashington, D.C. From 2012 to 2018, he was deputy chief in the Office of Chief Counsel, ICE,DHS. From 2011 to 2012, he was deputy chief and then chief with the District Court LitigationDivision. From 2010 to 2011, he was chief with the District Court Litigation Section. From 2007to 2010, he was legislative counsel. From 2003 to 2007, he was an associate legal advisor. From1999 to 2003, he was an assistant district counsel with the former Immigration andNaturalization Service, Department of Justice in New York, N.Y. From 1993 to 1999, he was anassistant district attorney with the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office in Mineola, N.Y.Judge Ward is a member of the New York and New Jersey State Bars.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Ward were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2019 through 2024. During this period, court records show that Judge Ward decided 186 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 35, granted 3 other types of relief, and denied relief to 148. Converted to percentage terms, Ward denied 79.6 percent and granted 20.4 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Ward'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 Ward's denial rate of 79.6 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 57.7 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Bloomington Immigration Court where Judge Ward decided these cases denied asylum 68.1 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Ward'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 Ward, 44.1% 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 Ward came from Cuba. Individuals from this country made up 28.0% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Ward were: Honduras (16.1%), Cameroon (10.8%), India (9.7%), El Salvador (5.4%). 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%).