Courts → West Valley City, UT

Immigration court · West Valley City, UT

Salt Lake City Immigration Court

According to the DOJ EOIR FOIA release (vintage 2026-08), signature read: a 46.6 pp judge-level grant spread is the widest lottery stamp on Salt Lake City's bench. Grant rate sits in the upper third of tracked courts at 59.3% (above the 48.3% national average).

Data updated 2026-09-05

59.3%
Asylum grant rate
40.7%
Asylum denial rate
47,247
Pending cases
23 mo
Time to decision

Salt Lake City in one line

Salt Lake City's asylum grant rate is 59.3% (upper-third grant rate, above the 48.3% national average) across 8,831 FY2015-2025 merits decisions (mid-band volume).

59.3%
Asylum grant rate · Upper-third grant rate
8,831
Merits decisions · Mid-band volume
+11.0 pp
vs. national average
46.6 pp
Judge-level grant spread · wide
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What this court's record shows

Salt Lake City Immigration Court sits in the upper third of tracked courts at 59.3% across 8,831 FY2015–2025 merits (11.0 pp above the 48.3% national average). Historical docket context only.

Wide judge lottery: 42.3% to 88.9% (46.6 pp) across 10 reported judges at Salt Lake City. Case mix and assignment still shape the court aggregate.

47,247 pending cases and an average recorded wait of 23 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

56/100

Salt Lake City, 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 A 59.3%

    Share of merits decisions granting relief, FY2015-2025

  • Time to decision C 23 mo

    Average recorded months from filing to decision

  • Backlog ratio F 40.2%

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

EOIR bench spread roll

Grant-rate neighbourhood for Salt Lake City

Upper-third grant-rate neighbors for Salt Lake City (59.3%), with bench-spread stamps for the same-docket judge lottery.

SPREAD 46.6pp WIDE JUDGES 10 WAIT MID PEND 47,247 GRANT 59.3% RANK #28 of 77
Salt Lake City59.3%Chicago, IL61.3%Van Nuys, CA62.7%Philadelphia, PA55.2%Denver, CO54.8%
Asylum grant rate · Salt Lake City highlighted · DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025

Salt Lake City 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)

8,831 28th of 77 higher than 49 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 Salt Lake City sits: Fast & Favorable

Each dot is one of the 40 largest immigration courts by merits decisions, split at the MEDIAN grant rate (47.5%) and median average wait (31.2 months) across this set. Salt Lake City's own grant rate is 59.3% and its average wait is 22.6 months.

Grant rate vs. average wait time, 40 largest courts by merits decisions (DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025). Salt Lake City 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) Salt Lake City Immigration Court: grant rate vs. average wait among the largest immigration courts
Grant rate vs. average wait time, 40 largest courts by merits decisions (DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025). Salt Lake City highlighted.

How to read this

  • Fast & Favorable
  • Favorable but Slow
  • Fast but Tough
  • Slow & Tough
Statistical data only. Salt Lake City's 59.3% upper-third grant history still mixes judges, case types, and counsel rates, not a forecast for a future merits hearing. Consult a licensed immigration attorney.
Granted5236Denied3595
Asylum Outcomes at Salt Lake City Immigration Court - 8,831 merits decisions, FY2015–2025

Grant rate over time

Upper-third court Salt Lake City: fiscal-year grant path across FY2015–2025 merits.

Fiscal year Decisions Grant rate
FY2015 64 40.6%
FY2016 38 18.4%
FY2017 179 30.7%
FY2018 544 28.1%
FY2019 769 22.1%
FY2020 670 30.1%
FY2021 712 42.6%
FY2022 551 75.7%
FY2023 1,359 89.3%
FY2024 1,838 76.3%
FY2025 2,107 61.0%

The judge lottery at Salt Lake City Immigration Court

10 judges with enough asylum decisions to report. Grant rates run from 88.9% (45 decisions) down to 42.3% (26 decisions) - a 46.6-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 RLF 45
88.9%
2 Judge KHS 30
86.7%
3 Judge BLH 42
66.7%
4 Judge DCA 2,350
64.2%
5 Judge MEC 78
64.1%
6 Judge NNA 488
63.1%
7 Judge DDN 729
59.8%
8 Judge PMT 2,193
57.4%
9 Judge CMG 2,686
55.3%
10 Judge SSL 26
42.3%

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 Salt Lake City Immigration Court; judge grant-rate spread 46.6 pp. PlainImmigration computed grant/denial aggregates FY2015–FY2025; Merits volume is mid-band at 8,831 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. Salt Lake City 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.