Courts → Portland, OR

Immigration court · Portland, OR

Portland Immigration Court (Detained)

According to the DOJ EOIR FOIA release (vintage 2026-08), signature read: a 60.6 pp judge-level grant spread is the widest lottery stamp on Portland's bench. Grant rate sits mid-corpus at 43.7% (below the 48.3% national average).

Data updated 2026-09-05

43.7%
Asylum grant rate
56.3%
Asylum denial rate
74
Pending cases
39 mo
Time to decision

Portland in one line

Portland's asylum grant rate is 43.7% (mid-band grant rate, below the 48.3% national average) across 4,996 FY2015-2025 merits decisions (mid-band volume).

43.7%
Asylum grant rate · Mid-band grant rate
4,996
Merits decisions · Mid-band volume
-4.6 pp
vs. national average
60.6 pp
Judge-level grant spread · wide
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What this court's record shows

Portland Immigration Court (Detained) recorded 4,996 asylum merits decisions in the FY2015–2025 EOIR extract. Its 43.7% grant rate is 4.6 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: 14.1% to 74.7% (60.6 pp) across 12 reported judges at Portland. Case mix and assignment still shape the court aggregate.

Long-wait docket: 74 pending and 39 mo average recorded wait. Peer grids below place Portland on grant-rate and caseload axes; methodology covers extract limits.

Court outlook score

C

Court outlook score

56/100

Portland, 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+ 43.7%

    Share of merits decisions granting relief, FY2015-2025

  • Time to decision F 39 mo

    Average recorded months from filing to decision

  • Backlog ratio A+ 0.1%

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

EOIR bench spread roll

Grant-rate neighbourhood for Portland

Nearest grant-rate peers for Portland, where the 60.6 pp judge lottery is the standout bench stamp.

SPREAD 60.6pp WIDE JUDGES 12 WAIT LONG PEND 74 GRANT 43.7% RANK #51 of 77
Portland43.7%Detroit, MI42.5%Buffalo, NY42.3%New Orleans, LA41.5%Chelmsford, MA41%
Asylum grant rate · Portland highlighted · DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025

Portland Immigration Court (Detained) 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)

4,996 51st of 77 higher than 26 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 Portland 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. Portland's own grant rate is 43.7% and its average wait is 38.5 months.

Grant rate vs. average wait time, 41 largest courts by merits decisions (DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025). Portland 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) Portland Immigration Court (Detained): 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). Portland highlighted.

How to read this

  • Fast & Favorable
  • Favorable but Slow
  • Fast but Tough
  • Slow & Tough
Statistical data only. Portland's 60.6 pp judge-level spread shows how much the same court can diverge by assignment. Aggregate rates are not a forecast. Consult a licensed immigration attorney.
Granted2184Denied2812
Asylum Outcomes at Portland Immigration Court (Detained) - 4,996 merits decisions, FY2015–2025

Grant rate over time

Asylum grant rate by fiscal year at Portland Immigration Court (Detained).

Fiscal year Decisions Grant rate
FY2015 175 48.6%
FY2016 325 49.2%
FY2017 313 49.8%
FY2018 452 46.5%
FY2019 1,058 35.5%
FY2020 641 22.0%
FY2021 234 31.2%
FY2022 458 48.0%
FY2023 640 62.0%
FY2024 596 51.0%
FY2025 104 59.6%

The judge lottery at Portland Immigration Court (Detained)

12 judges with enough asylum decisions to report. Grant rates run from 74.7% (178 decisions) down to 14.1% (249 decisions) - a 60.6-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 SDC 178
74.7%
2 Judge LEM 196
71.9%
3 Judge MHB 317
53.9%
4 Judge CJL 659
48.4%
5 Judge AND 373
47.7%
6 Judge DDE 470
45.1%
7 Judge MIN 1,013
43.3%
8 Judge ZAN 807
40.3%
9 Judge DCA 283
39.2%
10 Judge DJJ 136
37.5%
11 Judge CMG 254
17.7%
12 Judge PMT 249
14.1%

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)

Similar merits caseload (± grant rate)

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.

DOJ Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) FOIA bulk case data for Portland Immigration Court (Detained); judge grant-rate spread 60.6 pp. PlainImmigration computed grant/denial aggregates FY2015–FY2025; Merits volume is mid-band at 4,996 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. Portland Immigration Court (Detained)'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.