Judge Rifian S. Newaz

FY 2019 - 2024, San Antonio Immigration Court

Published Nov 7, 2024

Attorney General William Barr appointed Rifian S. Newaz to begin hearing cases in May 2019.Judge Newaz earned a Bachelor of Arts in 2001 from Rice University and a Juris Doctor in 2004from the University of Texas School of Law. From 2018 to 2019, he was of counsel for the lawfirm of Davis & Santos. From 2011 to 2018, he served as an assistant U.S. attorney for theWestern District of Texas, Department of Justice, in El Paso, Texas. From 2004 to 2010, heserved as an assistant district attorney for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office inHouston, Texas. Judge Newaz is a member of the Texas State Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Newaz were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2019 through 2024. During this period, court records show that Judge Newaz decided 550 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 208, granted 18 other types of relief, and denied relief to 324. Converted to percentage terms, Newaz denied 58.9 percent and granted 41.1 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Newaz'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 Newaz's denial rate of 58.9 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 57.7 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the San Antonio Immigration Court where Judge Newaz decided these cases denied asylum 46.8 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Newaz'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 Newaz, 14.4% 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 Newaz came from Venezuela. Individuals from this country made up 29.5% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Newaz were: Cuba (14.5%), Honduras (13.1%), Nicaragua (10.0%), El Salvador (7.1%). 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%).