Asylum Decisions by Immigration Judges: Latest Findings and Reports

Thursday, January 24, 2013 at 2:00 PM (Eastern US)

1. What is TRAC?
   • Research Center at Syracuse University (established 1989)
     • TRAC Website
     • About TRAC
     • TRAC Immigration
   • Co-directors: Professors Susan B. Long and David Burnham
   • Self-supporting: Webinar funded by Four Freedoms Fund


2. Database dumps obtained by FOIAs and then analyzed by TRAC are the basis for these reports:
   • Where the data come from: case-by-case records on all Immigration Court Proceedings
     • see About the Data
   • Terminology: Basic types of court outcomes
     • Deportation orders (removal, voluntary departure)
     • Allowed to stay in U.S. (relief, termination, adminstrative closure)
     • Focus today is on grants and denials of asylum -- one of several forms of relief
   • Methodology: When useful comparisons can and cannot be made
     • Every case is unique -- so how can judge records be meaningfully compared?
     • Random assignment of cases is needed for meaningful comparison
     • Even with random assignment can only meaningfully compare judges making a sufficiently large number of asylum decisions [reliance on the "law of large numbers"]


3. Overview of TRAC Findings:
   • Judge-by-Judge Reports: current through September 2012
   • Summary Tables: Differences Among Judges in Denial Rates
   • Latest comparisons
   • Do judges evolve in their decision-making?
   • Do courts evolve in their decision-making?
   • Latest National Trends: FY 2012 Is a Record Year
   • Asylum Cases and Prosecutorial Discretion Closures
   • Previous Reports: Asylum Cases by Nationality
   • Denial rates by nationality
   • Disparity in denial rates for a given nationality
   • Previous Reports: Decision Disparity and Other Characteristics
   • Affirmative versus defensive asylum cases
   • Were you detained?
   • Judge-Specific Reports versus Other Tools
   • Useful Primers on Asylum (published by TRAC in 2006)
   • The Asylum Process
   • Asylum Law, Asylum Seekers and Refugees
   
   
4. Discussion -- attendee questions


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