Courts → Tucson, AZ

Immigration court · Tucson, AZ

Tucson Immigration Court

According to the DOJ EOIR FOIA release (vintage 2026-08), signature read: 3,195 merits decisions make Tucson a thin-volume court in the FOIA release. Grant rate sits in the lower third of tracked courts at 29.9% (below the 48.3% national average).

Data updated 2026-09-05

29.9%
Asylum grant rate
70.1%
Asylum denial rate
807
Pending cases
23 mo
Time to decision

Tucson in one line

Tucson's asylum grant rate is 29.9% (lower-third grant rate, below the 48.3% national average) across 3,195 FY2015-2025 merits decisions (thin-corpus volume).

29.9%
Asylum grant rate · Lower-third grant rate
3,195
Merits decisions · Thin-corpus volume
-18.4 pp
vs. national average
18.3 pp
Judge-level grant spread · mixed
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What this court's record shows

Tucson Immigration Court sits in the lower third of tracked courts at 29.9% across 3,195 FY2015–2025 merits (18.4 pp below the 48.3% national average). Historical docket context only.

The recorded judge-level range spans 24.3% to 42.6%, a 18.3-point spread across 8 reported judges. Different case mixes, decision volumes, and assignments can all affect a court-level aggregate, so the range is context rather than a prediction.

807 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

51/100

Tucson, 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 29.9%

    Share of merits decisions granting relief, FY2015-2025

  • Time to decision C 23 mo

    Average recorded months from filing to decision

  • Backlog ratio B 1.1%

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

EOIR bench spread roll

Grant-rate neighbourhood for Tucson

Lower-third grant-rate neighbors for Tucson (29.9%), with bench-spread stamps for the same-docket judge lottery.

SPREAD 18.3pp MIXED JUDGES 8 WAIT MID PEND 807 GRANT 29.9% RANK #60 of 77
Tucson29.9%Chaparral, NM29.5%Aurora, CO29.5%Houston, TX29.2%Tacoma, WA27.7%
Asylum grant rate · Tucson highlighted · DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025

Tucson 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)

3,195 60th of 77 higher than 17 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 Tucson 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. Tucson's own grant rate is 29.9% and its average wait is 23.2 months.

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

How to read this

  • Fast & Favorable
  • Favorable but Slow
  • Fast but Tough
  • Slow & Tough
Statistical data only. Tucson's 70.1% denial-leaning history often tracks case mix and representation gaps, not a forecast for a future merits hearing. Consult a licensed immigration attorney.
Granted956Denied2239
Asylum Outcomes at Tucson Immigration Court - 3,195 merits decisions, FY2015–2025

Grant rate over time

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

Fiscal year Decisions Grant rate
FY2015 76 35.5%
FY2016 74 29.7%
FY2017 159 18.2%
FY2018 191 16.8%
FY2019 304 20.7%
FY2020 415 30.6%
FY2021 212 50.9%
FY2022 84 57.1%
FY2023 186 34.9%
FY2024 445 33.7%
FY2025 1,049 27.2%

The judge lottery at Tucson Immigration Court

8 judges with enough asylum decisions to report. Grant rates run from 42.6% (61 decisions) down to 24.3% (577 decisions) - a 18.3-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 ICF 61
42.6%
2 Judge KLD 490
37.1%
3 Judge LRM 35
31.4%
4 Judge GMT 612
30.9%
5 Judge JWD 368
29.1%
6 Judge SHK 617
28.8%
7 Judge TMO 414
28.3%
8 Judge MLL 577
24.3%

Nationwide courts with similar asylum profiles

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

Similar grant rate (± asylum merits volume)

Similar merits caseload (± grant rate)

How immigration court proceedings work · Browse every tracked immigration court

Lower-third grant-rate court Tucson (29.9%) in DOJ EOIR FOIA data. Statistical information only, not legal advice.

DOJ Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) FOIA bulk case data for Tucson Immigration Court; merits-decision volume 3,195. PlainImmigration computed grant/denial aggregates FY2015–FY2025; Merits volume is thin-corpus at 3,195 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. Tucson 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.