Courts → Santa Ana, CA

Immigration court · Santa Ana, CA

Santa Ana Immigration Court

According to the DOJ EOIR FOIA release (vintage 2026-08), signature read: a 52.2 pp judge-level grant spread is the widest lottery stamp on Santa Ana's bench. Merits volume is heavy-corpus at 15,413 decisions FY2022–2025 (#15 of 77).

Data updated 2026-09-05

47.2%
Asylum grant rate
52.8%
Asylum denial rate
21,532
Pending cases
25 mo
Time to decision

Partial window:Since FY2022 Santa Ana Immigration Court has recorded asylum decisions in FY2022–2025 only (years with fewer than 10 decisions are not counted), so the grant rate, case count and wait above cover that span, not all of FY2015–2025. The rankings mark it the same way. The year-by-year record is in the trend table below.

Santa Ana in one line

Santa Ana's asylum grant rate is 47.2% (mid-band grant rate, roughly in line with the 48.3% national average) across 15,413 FY2022–2025 merits decisions (heavy-corpus volume).

47.2%
Asylum grant rate · Mid-band grant rate
15,413
Merits decisions · Heavy-corpus volume
-1.1 pp
vs. national average
52.2 pp
Judge-level grant spread · wide
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What this court's record shows

Santa Ana Immigration Court recorded 15,413 asylum merits decisions in the EOIR extract (FY2022–2025). Its 47.2% grant rate is 1.1 percentage points roughly in line with the 48.3% national rate. That comparison describes the historical docket, not the likelihood of an outcome in a future case.

Wide judge lottery: 31.1% to 83.3% (52.2 pp) across 28 reported judges at Santa Ana. Case mix and assignment still shape the court aggregate.

Heavy-corpus court (#15 of 77): peer grids below match on grant rate and merits volume; methodology covers EOIR extract limits.

Court outlook score

C

Court outlook score

57/100

Santa Ana, 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 B- 47.2%

    Share of merits decisions granting relief, FY2015-2025

  • Time to decision C- 25 mo

    Average recorded months from filing to decision

  • Backlog ratio D 15.0%

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

EOIR bench spread roll

Grant-rate neighbourhood for Santa Ana

Nearest grant-rate peers for Santa Ana, where the 52.2 pp judge lottery is the standout bench stamp.

SPREAD 52.2pp WIDE JUDGES 28 WAIT MID PEND 21,532 GRANT 47.2% RANK #15 of 77
Santa Ana47.2%Dallas, TX47.4%Las Vegas, NV47.6%Orlando, FL48.4%New York, NY48.7%
Asylum grant rate · Santa Ana highlighted · DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025

Santa Ana 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)

15,413 15th of 77 higher than 62 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 Santa Ana sits: Fast but Tough

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. Santa Ana's own grant rate is 47.2% and its average wait is 24.5 months.

Grant rate vs. average wait time, 40 largest courts by merits decisions (DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025). Santa Ana 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) Santa Ana 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). Santa Ana highlighted.

How to read this

  • Fast & Favorable
  • Favorable but Slow
  • Fast but Tough
  • Slow & Tough
Statistical data only. Santa Ana's 52.2 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.
Granted7276Denied8137
Asylum Outcomes at Santa Ana Immigration Court - 15,413 merits decisions, FY2022–2025

Grant rate over time

Asylum grant rate by fiscal year at Santa Ana Immigration Court.

Fiscal year Decisions Grant rate
FY2015 1 0.0%
FY2016 1 0.0%
FY2021 1 100.0%
FY2022 695 62.3%
FY2023 2,792 61.7%
FY2024 3,988 48.1%
FY2025 7,935 40.3%

The judge lottery at Santa Ana Immigration Court

28 judges with enough asylum decisions to report. Grant rates run from 83.3% (162 decisions) down to 31.1% (1,017 decisions) - a 52.2-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 VALSince FY2022 162
83.3%
2 Judge WMMFY2022–24 only 265
77.7%
3 Judge NBWSince FY2022 438
73.1%
4 Judge DKMFY2022–24 only 43
72.1%
5 Judge JWOSince FY2022 344
65.7%
6 Judge JOHSince FY2022 753
62.5%
7 Judge AMFSince FY2022 553
60.2%
8 Judge TTISince FY2022 529
58.4%
9 Judge HHSince FY2022 756
57.8%
10 Judge AFNSince FY2022 906
54.3%
11 Judge ABKSince FY2022 758
48.4%
12 Judge LCHSince FY2023 608
48.0%
13 Judge KNHSince FY2022 350
47.7%
14 Judge CB1Since FY2022 142
47.2%
15 Judge LJFSince FY2022 856
46.7%
16 Judge ROASince FY2022 662
45.0%
17 Judge JENSince FY2022 689
43.4%
18 Judge HRLSince FY2023 429
42.4%
19 Judge GSSSince FY2022 609
41.9%
20 Judge JNWSince FY2022 372
41.9%
21 Judge WRLSince FY2022 680
39.6%
22 Judge PIESince FY2023 566
39.6%
23 Judge MWCSince FY2022 594
38.2%
24 Judge LWPSince FY2023 184
35.3%
25 Judge INGSince FY2022 866
33.9%
26 Judge AENSince FY2022 636
32.5%
27 Judge CDMSince FY2023 514
31.9%
28 Judge JERSince FY2022 1,017
31.1%

Nationwide courts with similar asylum profiles

Heavy-corpus peers for Santa Ana: ABS(grant-rate) and merits-volume matches outside the same state.

Similar grant rate (± asylum merits volume)

Similar merits caseload (± grant rate)

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

Heavy-corpus court Santa Ana: 15,413 FY2022–2025 merits in DOJ EOIR FOIA data. Statistical information only, not legal advice.

Read our methodology - how Santa Ana's 15,413-decision EOIR court row is sourced, computed, and verified.

DOJ Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) FOIA bulk case data for Santa Ana Immigration Court; judge grant-rate spread 52.2 pp. PlainImmigration computed grant/denial aggregates FY2015–FY2025; Merits volume is heavy-corpus at 15,413 decisions FY2022–2025 (#15 of 77).

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. Santa Ana 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.