Immigration court · Chelmsford, MA
Chelmsford Immigration Court
According to the DOJ EOIR FOIA release (vintage 2026-08), signature read: a 68.0 pp judge-level grant spread is the widest lottery stamp on Chelmsford's bench. Grant rate sits mid-corpus at 41.0% (below the 48.3% national average).
Data updated 2026-09-05
- 41.0%
- Asylum grant rate
- 59.0%
- Asylum denial rate
- 62,455
- Pending cases
- 34 mo
- Time to decision
Chelmsford in one line
Chelmsford's asylum grant rate is 41.0% (mid-band grant rate, below the 48.3% national average) across 2,330 FY2015-2025 merits decisions (thin-corpus volume).
- 41.0%
- Asylum grant rate · Mid-band grant rate
- 2,330
- Merits decisions · Thin-corpus volume
- -7.3 pp
- vs. national average
- 68.0 pp
- Judge-level grant spread · wide
What this court's record shows
Chelmsford Immigration Court recorded 2,330 asylum merits decisions in the FY2015–2025 EOIR extract. Its 41.0% grant rate is 7.3 percentage points below the 48.3% national rate. That comparison describes the historical docket, not the likelihood of an outcome in a future case.
Wide judge lottery: 15.4% to 83.4% (68.0 pp) across 17 reported judges at Chelmsford. Case mix and assignment still shape the court aggregate.
62,455 pending cases and an average recorded wait of 34 months describe administrative pressure in this snapshot. Use the peer comparisons below to place this court against similar caseloads and grant-rate profiles, then consult the methodology for the extract's scope and limits.
Court outlook score
Court outlook score
28/100
Chelmsford, weighted across 3 of 3 tracked dimensions
A weighted composite of asylum grant rate, time to decision, and backlog ratio against the full tracked-court corpus. It describes the historical docket, not the odds of any one case, and does not weigh legal representation, case type, or judge assignment.
- Asylum grant rate C- 41.0%
Share of merits decisions granting relief, FY2015-2025
- Time to decision F 34 mo
Average recorded months from filing to decision
- Backlog ratio F 68.4%
Pending cases as a share of the court's own total caseload
EOIR bench spread roll
Grant-rate neighbourhood for Chelmsford
Nearest grant-rate peers for Chelmsford, where the 68.0 pp judge lottery is the standout bench stamp.
Chelmsford Immigration Court vs all courts by asylum merits caseload
Where this court's FY2015–2025 asylum merits-decision count sits among every tracked immigration court (inventory signal, not a quality ranking)
2,330 64th of 77 higher than 13 of 77 courts
Immigration courts, banded by asylum merits-decision count
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more courts. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source DOJ EOIR asylum merits decisions · FY2015–2025
Where Chelmsford sits: Slow & Tough
Each dot is one of the 41 largest immigration courts by merits decisions, split at the MEDIAN grant rate (47.5%) and median average wait (31.4 months) across this set. Chelmsford's own grant rate is 41.0% and its average wait is 34.3 months.
How to read this
- Fast & Favorable
- Favorable but Slow
- Fast but Tough
- Slow & Tough
Chelmsford Immigration Court's merits outcome mix
2,330merits decisions FY2015–2025
Grant rate over time
Asylum grant rate by fiscal year at Chelmsford Immigration Court.
| Fiscal year | Decisions | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|
| FY2024 | 20 | 100.0% |
| FY2025 | 2,310 | 40.5% |
The judge lottery at Chelmsford Immigration Court
17 judges with enough asylum decisions to report. Grant rates run from 83.4% (175 decisions) down to 15.4% (149 decisions) - a 68.0-point spread on the same bench. Rates based on smaller decision counts carry more statistical noise.
Judge names below are the anonymized judge codes EOIR assigns in its public case-data release, not verified public identities. EOIR does not publish immigration judges' full names in this dataset. See our methodology for detail.
| # | Judge | Decisions | Asylum grant rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Judge SAA | 175 | |
| 2 | Judge AMO | 90 | |
| 3 | Judge JAH | 134 | |
| 4 | Judge NIF | 217 | |
| 5 | Judge HUL | 83 | |
| 6 | Judge JBY | 145 | |
| 7 | Judge AMS | 85 | |
| 8 | Judge GEP | 194 | |
| 9 | Judge JAZ | 39 | |
| 10 | Judge HAK | 103 | |
| 11 | Judge NYG | 95 | |
| 12 | Judge LSY | 97 | |
| 13 | Judge JMW | 143 | |
| 14 | Judge DDO | 135 | |
| 15 | Judge CEO | 267 | |
| 16 | Judge NSM | 172 | |
| 17 | Judge YMC | 149 | |
Nationwide courts with similar asylum profiles
Cross-state peers matched on grant rate and merits caseload, not the same-state browse list.
Similar grant rate (± asylum merits volume)
- Memphis Immigration Court · Memphis, TN · 40.8% grant · 11,643 merits
- New Orleans Immigration Court · New Orleans, LA · 41.5% grant · 8,667 merits
- Portland Immigration Court · Portland, OR · 42.1% grant · 1,229 merits
- Buffalo Immigration Court · Buffalo, NY · 42.3% grant · 5,018 merits
Similar merits caseload (± grant rate)
- El Paso Service Processing Center Immigration Court · El Paso, TX · 2,258 merits · 17.0% grant
- Honolulu Immigration Court · Honolulu, HI · 2,117 merits · 64.1% grant
- Otay Mesa Immigration Court · San Diego, CA · 2,559 merits · 32.4% grant
- Indianapolis Immigration Court · Indianapolis, IN · 1,967 merits · 26.8% grant
Why judge-level rates vary · Browse every tracked immigration court
Data from the DOJ Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) via FOIA bulk case data. Statistical information only, not legal advice.
Read our methodology - how Chelmsford's 2,330-decision EOIR court row is sourced, computed, and verified.
Source: U.S. EOIR, Immigration Court Statistics Immigration court outcomes by court and case type · 2025
Every figure on PlainImmigration is rendered directly from federal immigration court records, no number is typed in by an editor. Chelmsford Immigration Court's outcome and grant-rate figures are recomputed live from the EOIR case-level extract on every request, never hand-typed. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-09-05.