SDC

Case Insights: SDC

The SDC immigration court, based in , , has processed 49,650 recorded cases in the DOJ EOIR dataset. Of those, 35,396 resulted in relief granted (71.3%), 568 were denied (1.1%), and 13,686 fell into other dispositions such as administrative closures, changes of venue, or withdrawals (27.6%). The court has 30 immigration judges on record, whose individual caseloads and outcome patterns shape the court-wide averages shown above.

Between fiscal year 2015 and fiscal year 2025, the grant rate at SDC fell by 14.9 percentage points, moving from 83.3% to 68.4%. That window spans 11 fiscal years of reported data, covering shifts in bench composition, policy guidance, and nationality mix. The year-by-year table lower on this page shows the underlying annual case volume for every year in the series.

Outcomes vary substantially judge-to-judge. Judge DTB has the largest recorded caseload at 9,425 decisions (73.8% grant rate). The spread between the highest-grant and lowest-grant judges at this court is 82.1 percentage points — WAC at 94.9% versus CLF at 12.8%. These differences reflect case mix, nationality assignments, and docket type rather than any single factor, and they are why EOIR cautions readers against treating any judge's rate as predictive of an individual case.