Courts → Tacoma, WA

Immigration court · Tacoma, WA

Tacoma Immigration Court

According to the DOJ EOIR FOIA release (vintage 2026-08), signature read: 7 mo average time-to-decision is a short-wait stamp on Tacoma's docket. Grant rate sits in the lower third of tracked courts at 27.7% (below the 48.3% national average). Judge lottery spans 28.4 pp on the same bench.

Data updated 2026-09-05

27.7%
Asylum grant rate
72.3%
Asylum denial rate
663
Pending cases
7 mo
Time to decision

Tacoma in one line

Tacoma's asylum grant rate is 27.7% (lower-third grant rate, below the 48.3% national average) across 3,999 FY2015-2025 merits decisions (thin-corpus volume).

27.7%
Asylum grant rate · Lower-third grant rate
3,999
Merits decisions · Thin-corpus volume
-20.6 pp
vs. national average
28.4 pp
Judge-level grant spread · wide
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What this court's record shows

Tacoma Immigration Court sits in the lower third of tracked courts at 27.7% across 3,999 FY2015–2025 merits (20.6 pp below the 48.3% national average). Historical docket context only.

Wide judge lottery: 11.1% to 39.5% (28.4 pp) across 14 reported judges at Tacoma. Case mix and assignment still shape the court aggregate.

663 pending cases and an average recorded wait of 7 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

62/100

Tacoma, 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 27.7%

    Share of merits decisions granting relief, FY2015-2025

  • Time to decision A 7 mo

    Average recorded months from filing to decision

  • Backlog ratio A 0.5%

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

EOIR bench spread roll

Grant-rate neighbourhood for Tacoma

Lower-third grant-rate neighbors for Tacoma (27.7%), with bench-spread stamps for the same-docket judge lottery.

SPREAD 28.4pp WIDE JUDGES 14 WAIT SHORT PEND 663 GRANT 27.7% RANK #56 of 77
Tacoma27.7%Indianapolis, IN26.8%Houston, TX29.2%Laredo, TX26.1%Chaparral, NM29.5%
Asylum grant rate · Tacoma highlighted · DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025

Tacoma 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)

3,999 56th of 77 higher than 21 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 Tacoma sits: Fast but 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 (31.0 months) across this set. Tacoma's own grant rate is 27.7% and its average wait is 7.2 months.

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

How to read this

  • Fast & Favorable
  • Favorable but Slow
  • Fast but Tough
  • Slow & Tough
Statistical data only. Tacoma's 72.3% denial-leaning history often tracks case mix and representation gaps, not a forecast for a future merits hearing. Consult a licensed immigration attorney.
Granted1109Denied2890
Asylum Outcomes at Tacoma Immigration Court - 3,999 merits decisions, FY2015–2025

Grant rate over time

Lower-third court Tacoma: fiscal-year grant path across FY2015–2025 merits.

Fiscal year Decisions Grant rate
FY2015 283 32.5%
FY2016 317 34.4%
FY2017 609 21.5%
FY2018 671 27.1%
FY2019 667 28.2%
FY2020 485 39.4%
FY2021 98 18.4%
FY2022 119 45.4%
FY2023 169 31.4%
FY2024 190 24.7%
FY2025 391 11.3%

The judge lottery at Tacoma Immigration Court

14 judges with enough asylum decisions to report. Grant rates run from 39.5% (43 decisions) down to 11.1% (72 decisions) - a 28.4-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 AED 43
39.5%
2 Judge TLF 828
37.8%
3 Judge CNF 420
34.0%
4 Judge AAS 61
29.5%
5 Judge TSC 506
26.9%
6 Judge JCO 998
26.2%
7 Judge DCA 63
23.8%
8 Judge CMG 43
23.3%
9 Judge JLN 27
22.2%
10 Judge NNA 49
20.4%
11 Judge ZAN 215
16.3%
12 Judge PMT 45
15.6%
13 Judge JDV 91
14.3%
14 Judge KWR 72
11.1%

Nationwide courts with similar asylum profiles

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

Similar grant rate (± asylum merits volume)

Similar merits caseload (± grant rate)

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

Lower-third grant-rate court Tacoma (27.7%) in DOJ EOIR FOIA data. Statistical information only, not legal advice.

DOJ Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) FOIA bulk case data for Tacoma Immigration Court; average time to decision 7 mo. PlainImmigration computed grant/denial aggregates FY2015–FY2025; Merits volume is thin-corpus at 3,999 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. Tacoma 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.