The new study conducted by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) of Syracuse University found wide disparities among the 200+ immigration judges across the US.The TRAC study has also published a list of judges with their relevant acceptance:rejection percentages, which will no doubt be useful information for asylum seekers and their attorneys. But the study has revealed that those who flee to the United States for safety face an uncertain outcome--one that relies more on the feelings of the individual judge than on clearly defined legal standards.
Although each case is different, and one would hardly expect immigration judges to approve and deny exactly the same percentage of asylum applications, the TRAC study found vastly different percentages of approvals and denials, even among immigration judges in the same city for applications submitted by people of the same nationality.
For example, New York City judicial decisions on asylum for nationals of Peoples Republic of China (PRC), revealed one judge denying 94.5 percent while another denied only 6.9 percent.
Top 10 Civil Liberties News Stories of the Week - August 11, 2006 Edition
By Tom Head, About.com
Report: Judges Differ Dramatically on Asylum Petitions
A group of U.S. immigrants takes the Oath of Citizenship.
Image courtesy of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The United States is known around the world as a safe haven for those seeking political asylum, but the most important question may not be how desperate the situation itself is, or which regime one is fleeing, but rather which judge happens to be presiding at the time:
Index: Top 10 Civil Liberties News Stories of the Week - August 11, 2006 Edition
- London Terrorism Scare Reignites Ethnic Profiling Debate
- ACLU: Prisoners at Orleans Parish Prison Left Behind During Hurricane Katrina
- Cybercrime Treaty May Endanger Internet Free Speech
- Study: Black Survivors of Hurricane Katrina Subjected to Housing Discrimination
- ACLU Challenges Reauthorized PATRIOT Act in Court
- North Carolina Establishes Innocence Inquiry Commission
- Report: Judges Differ Dramatically on Asylum Petitions
- Blacklisted Pilot Exonerated
- Original Plaintiff Seeks to Overturn Landmark Abortion Case
- Black Jack Anti-Cohabitation Law to Be Challenged in Court
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