Courts → Indianapolis, IN

Immigration court · Indianapolis, IN

Indianapolis Immigration Court

According to the DOJ EOIR FOIA release (vintage 2026-08), signature read: 1,967 merits decisions make Indianapolis a thin-volume court in the FOIA release. Grant rate sits in the lower third of tracked courts at 26.8% (below the 48.3% national average).

Data updated 2026-09-05

26.8%
Asylum grant rate
73.2%
Asylum denial rate
52,482
Pending cases
36 mo
Time to decision

Indianapolis in one line

Indianapolis's asylum grant rate is 26.8% (lower-third grant rate, below the 48.3% national average) across 1,967 FY2015-2025 merits decisions (thin-corpus volume).

26.8%
Asylum grant rate · Lower-third grant rate
1,967
Merits decisions · Thin-corpus volume
-21.5 pp
vs. national average
14.6 pp
Judge-level grant spread · mixed
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What this court's record shows

Indianapolis Immigration Court sits in the lower third of tracked courts at 26.8% across 1,967 FY2015–2025 merits (21.5 pp below the 48.3% national average). Historical docket context only.

The recorded judge-level range spans 18.7% to 33.3%, a 14.6-point spread across 6 reported judges. Different case mixes, decision volumes, and assignments can all affect a court-level aggregate, so the range is context rather than a prediction.

Long-wait docket: 52,482 pending and 36 mo average recorded wait. Peer grids below place Indianapolis on grant-rate and caseload axes; methodology covers extract limits.

Court outlook score

F

Court outlook score

14/100

Indianapolis, 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 26.8%

    Share of merits decisions granting relief, FY2015-2025

  • Time to decision F 36 mo

    Average recorded months from filing to decision

  • Backlog ratio F 73.9%

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

EOIR bench spread roll

Grant-rate neighbourhood for Indianapolis

Lower-third grant-rate neighbors for Indianapolis (26.8%), with bench-spread stamps for the same-docket judge lottery.

SPREAD 14.6pp MIXED JUDGES 6 WAIT LONG PEND 52,482 GRANT 26.8% RANK #67 of 77
Indianapolis26.8%Laredo, TX26.1%Tacoma, WA27.7%Omaha, NE25.8%Houston, TX29.2%
Asylum grant rate · Indianapolis highlighted · DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025

Indianapolis 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)

1,967 67th of 77 higher than 10 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 Indianapolis 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. Indianapolis's own grant rate is 26.8% and its average wait is 36.0 months.

Grant rate vs. average wait time, 41 largest courts by merits decisions (DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025). Indianapolis 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) Indianapolis 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). Indianapolis highlighted.

How to read this

  • Fast & Favorable
  • Favorable but Slow
  • Fast but Tough
  • Slow & Tough
Statistical data only. Indianapolis's 73.2% denial-leaning history often tracks case mix and representation gaps, not a forecast for a future merits hearing. Consult a licensed immigration attorney.
Granted527Denied1440
Asylum Outcomes at Indianapolis Immigration Court - 1,967 merits decisions, FY2015–2025

The judge lottery at Indianapolis Immigration Court

6 judges with enough asylum decisions to report. Grant rates run from 33.3% (387 decisions) down to 18.7% (203 decisions) - a 14.6-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 SJB 387
33.3%
2 Judge DBC 375
30.1%
3 Judge VAB 318
28.9%
4 Judge STT 296
25.0%
5 Judge STB 337
19.6%
6 Judge JCM 203
18.7%

Nationwide courts with similar asylum profiles

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

Similar grant rate (± asylum merits volume)

Similar merits caseload (± grant rate)

How to read court backlog data · Browse every tracked immigration court

Lower-third grant-rate court Indianapolis (26.8%) in DOJ EOIR FOIA data. Statistical information only, not legal advice.

DOJ Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) FOIA bulk case data for Indianapolis Immigration Court; merits-decision volume 1,967. PlainImmigration computed grant/denial aggregates FY2015–FY2025; Merits volume is thin-corpus at 1,967 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. Indianapolis 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.