Courts → Elizabeth, NJ

Immigration court · Elizabeth, NJ

Elizabeth Immigration Court

According to the DOJ EOIR FOIA release (vintage 2026-08), signature read: a 66.7 pp judge-level grant spread is the widest lottery stamp on Elizabeth's bench. Grant rate sits in the lower third of tracked courts at 24.1% (below the 48.3% national average). Judge lottery spans 66.7 pp on the same bench.

Data updated 2026-09-05

24.1%
Asylum grant rate
75.9%
Asylum denial rate
1,686
Pending cases
11 mo
Time to decision

Elizabeth in one line

Elizabeth's asylum grant rate is 24.1% (lower-third grant rate, below the 48.3% national average) across 5,586 FY2015-2025 merits decisions (mid-band volume).

24.1%
Asylum grant rate · Lower-third grant rate
5,586
Merits decisions · Mid-band volume
-24.2 pp
vs. national average
66.7 pp
Judge-level grant spread · wide
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What this court's record shows

Elizabeth Immigration Court sits in the lower third of tracked courts at 24.1% across 5,586 FY2015–2025 merits (24.2 pp below the 48.3% national average). Historical docket context only.

Wide judge lottery: 2.2% to 68.9% (66.7 pp) across 36 reported judges at Elizabeth. Case mix and assignment still shape the court aggregate.

1,686 pending cases and an average recorded wait of 11 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

C-

Court outlook score

54/100

Elizabeth, 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 F 24.1%

    Share of merits decisions granting relief, FY2015-2025

  • Time to decision A- 11 mo

    Average recorded months from filing to decision

  • Backlog ratio B+ 1.0%

    Pending cases as a share of the court's own total caseload

EOIR bench spread roll

Grant-rate neighbourhood for Elizabeth

Lower-third grant-rate neighbors for Elizabeth (24.1%), with bench-spread stamps for the same-docket judge lottery.

SPREAD 66.7pp WIDE JUDGES 36 WAIT SHORT PEND 1,686 GRANT 24.1% RANK #43 of 77
Elizabeth24.1%Pearsall, TX24%Oakdale, LA23.9%Florence, AZ23%Omaha, NE25.8%
Asylum grant rate · Elizabeth highlighted · DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025

Elizabeth 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)

5,586 43rd of 77 higher than 34 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 Elizabeth sits: Fast but 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 (31.0 months) across this set. Elizabeth's own grant rate is 24.1% and its average wait is 10.7 months.

Grant rate vs. average wait time, 41 largest courts by merits decisions (DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025). Elizabeth highlighted. 2×2 strategic matrix plotting 30 entities by Asylum grant rate (X) and Average wait (months) (Y), with a crosshair dividing the plot into four quadrants. Favorable but SlowSlow & ToughFast & FavorableFast but Tough 20%40%60%80% 10mo20mo30mo40mo50mo Asylum grant rate Average wait (months) Elizabeth Immigration Court: grant rate vs. average wait among the largest immigration courts
Grant rate vs. average wait time, 41 largest courts by merits decisions (DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025). Elizabeth highlighted.

How to read this

  • Fast & Favorable
  • Favorable but Slow
  • Fast but Tough
  • Slow & Tough
Statistical data only. Elizabeth's 75.9% denial-leaning history often tracks case mix and representation gaps, not a forecast for a future merits hearing. Consult a licensed immigration attorney.
Granted1344Denied4242
Asylum Outcomes at Elizabeth Immigration Court - 5,586 merits decisions, FY2015–2025

Grant rate over time

Lower-third court Elizabeth: fiscal-year grant path across FY2015–2025 merits.

Fiscal year Decisions Grant rate
FY2015 483 40.8%
FY2016 556 33.6%
FY2017 860 33.8%
FY2018 495 28.7%
FY2019 692 26.7%
FY2020 530 18.7%
FY2021 278 12.6%
FY2022 205 15.6%
FY2023 422 13.0%
FY2024 413 17.4%
FY2025 652 7.5%

The judge lottery at Elizabeth Immigration Court

36 judges with enough asylum decisions to report. Grant rates run from 68.9% (148 decisions) down to 2.2% (46 decisions) - a 66.7-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 DH 148
68.9%
2 Judge DM 285
51.9%
3 Judge DCV 28
46.4%
4 Judge NVP 100
44.0%
5 Judge RPO 28
39.3%
6 Judge ASH 188
35.1%
7 Judge AAV 26
34.6%
8 Judge LAF 355
33.2%
9 Judge DHF 28
32.1%
10 Judge WAD 226
30.5%
11 Judge ADA 109
27.5%
12 Judge MT 535
26.7%
13 Judge ILD 35
25.7%
14 Judge ABE 41
24.4%
15 Judge PLE 140
22.1%
16 Judge JCA 155
21.9%
17 Judge JNP 220
21.8%
18 Judge QVB 147
17.7%
19 Judge APS 309
16.2%
20 Judge KAR 68
16.2%
21 Judge KQG 424
15.3%
22 Judge ARA 27
14.8%
23 Judge RDB 196
12.8%
24 Judge JPI 72
12.5%
25 Judge CNP 36
11.1%
26 Judge JPE 263
10.6%
27 Judge BTP 66
10.6%
28 Judge RCH 87
10.3%
29 Judge MMN 32
9.4%
30 Judge ASR 44
9.1%
31 Judge THW 158
8.9%
32 Judge JHW 70
8.6%
33 Judge VSM 37
5.4%
34 Judge DSR 124
4.0%
35 Judge LMM 103
2.9%
36 Judge JHK 46
2.2%

Nationwide courts with similar asylum profiles

Lower-third grant-rate peers for Elizabeth, plus caseload matches on a second axis.

Similar grant rate (± asylum merits volume)

Similar merits caseload (± grant rate)

Why judge-level rates vary · Browse every tracked immigration court

Lower-third grant-rate court Elizabeth (24.1%) in DOJ EOIR FOIA data. Statistical information only, not legal advice.

Read our methodology - how Elizabeth's 5,586-decision EOIR court row is sourced, computed, and verified.

DOJ Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) FOIA bulk case data for Elizabeth Immigration Court; judge grant-rate spread 66.7 pp. PlainImmigration computed grant/denial aggregates FY2015–FY2025; Merits volume is mid-band at 5,586 decisions FY2015–2025.

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. Elizabeth 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.