Immigration court
Elizabeth, NJ Immigration Court
22 judges · NJ
EOIR data through Oct 1, 2026 · updated monthly
- 9,139
- Granted
- 65,264
- Denied
- 22
- Judges
Distribution
How this court's judges compare
At Elizabeth, NJ, 15 judges range from 0.0% to 16.9%.
Each judge's all-time EOIR decided outcomes across every court they have served in: granted ÷ (granted + denied). Judges now based at this court with at least 100 decided cases. A historical pattern — not a prediction for any case.
Recent decisions (Oct 2024 – Sep 2026): Elizabeth, NJ Immigration Court granted asylum in 5.9% of 7,822 decided cases. That is lower than the court's all-time rate of 12.3% (74,403 decided cases). Over the same months, the national rate was 5.0%.
How to Interpret This Court's Data
Court-level statistics aggregate the judges and cases assigned to the Elizabeth, NJ Immigration Court, so the court average can differ sharply from any one judge's profile.
High-volume judge profiles at this court include Defillo, Irma Lopez (16,879 total cases), Tadal, Mirlande (14,356 total cases), and Sease, Grace A. (9,284 total cases). The largest nationality groups shown for this court (fiscal years 2020–2026) include Mexico (2,892 decided, 4.3% grant rate), Guatemala (1,879 decided, 4.0% grant rate), and Dominican Republic (1,547 decided, 6.3% grant rate).
Asylum grant rate is calculated as granted / (granted + denied). Procedural outcomes are separated so users can distinguish merits decisions from docket-management outcomes.
This page uses public EOIR records last updated 2026-10-01. The data is informational and should not be treated as legal advice or a prediction for any individual case.
Read how EOIR data works or learn how to compare asylum approval rates.
Areas Served by This Court
Based on the official EOIR ZIP-code assignment, the Elizabeth, NJ Immigration Court is the assigned filing location for 1 ZIP codes. Main cities by state:
NJ — Elizabeth
Not sure which immigration court serves your address? Enter your ZIP code in the AsylumTracker app's coverage map.
Judges at This Court
| Judge | Approval Rate | Granted | Denied | Decided |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defillo, Irma Lopez | 12.9% | 1,177 | 7,982 | 9,159 |
| Tadal, Mirlande | 12.4% | 1,450 | 10,218 | 11,668 |
| Sease, Grace A. | 5.0% | 312 | 5,936 | 6,248 |
| Wilson, Tamar H. | 11.2% | 485 | 3,848 | 4,333 |
| Bailey, Richard | 12.9% | 286 | 1,931 | 2,217 |
| Panopoulos, Adam | 12.0% | 227 | 1,672 | 1,899 |
| Ellington, John P. | 8.9% | 128 | 1,310 | 1,438 |
| Armstrong, Adrian N. | 13.0% | 79 | 528 | 607 |
| Hussey, Michael | 16.9% | 48 | 236 | 284 |
| Addicott, Jacob T. | 2.1% | 5 | 232 | 237 |
| Engel, Michael C. | 13.1% | 18 | 119 | 137 |
| Combs, Corey | 0.6% | 1 | 172 | 173 |
| Brown, Lory G. | 5.3% | 8 | 143 | 151 |
| Quidley, Joshua D. | 0.0% | 0 | 154 | 154 |
| Hawkes, Joshua | 2.6% | 5 | 191 | 196 |
| Gleich, Oren | 10.0% | 9 | 81 | 90 |
| Shusted, Thomas | 0.0% | 0 | 96 | 96 |
| Pepper, S. Kathleen | 51.1% | 23 | 22 | 45 |
| Mulhern, Daniel | 0.0% | 0 | 24 | 24 |
| Frankenfield, Jason | 0.0% | 0 | 18 | 18 |
| Dicamillo, Angelo J. | 0.0% | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Grant, Edward | 0.0% | 0 | 6 | 6 |
Roster entries without a usable profile denominator: York Visiting Judge 1, Baker, Mark, York Visiting Judge 2, York Visiting Judge 3. They are excluded from the rate table above.
Approval Rate by Nationality
Fiscal years 2020–2026 (Oct 2019 – Sep 2026).
| Nationality | Approval Rate | Granted | Denied | Decided |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico | 4.3% | 124 | 2,768 | 2,892 |
| Guatemala | 4.0% | 75 | 1,804 | 1,879 |
| Dominican Republic | 6.3% | 97 | 1,450 | 1,547 |
| Honduras | 5.9% | 65 | 1,037 | 1,102 |
| Ecuador | 3.7% | 36 | 945 | 981 |
| El Salvador | 13.1% | 121 | 806 | 927 |
| Colombia | 6.3% | 36 | 539 | 575 |
| Venezuela | 8.2% | 40 | 450 | 490 |
| Brazil | 3.6% | 13 | 349 | 362 |
| Peru | 5.6% | 19 | 323 | 342 |
| Jamaica | 13.6% | 46 | 292 | 338 |
| Haiti | 14.0% | 43 | 265 | 308 |
| Nicaragua | 16.2% | 41 | 212 | 253 |
| India | 7.6% | 18 | 219 | 237 |
| China | 7.7% | 17 | 203 | 220 |
| Cuba | 16.6% | 35 | 176 | 211 |
| Uzbekistan | 17.0% | 29 | 142 | 171 |
| Russia | 26.0% | 33 | 94 | 127 |
| Nigeria | 24.6% | 30 | 92 | 122 |
| Turkey | 19.8% | 20 | 81 | 101 |
| Romania | 1.2% | 1 | 84 | 85 |
| Ghana | 22.6% | 19 | 65 | 84 |
| Georgia | 13.6% | 11 | 70 | 81 |
| Guinea | 15.3% | 11 | 61 | 72 |
| Mauritania | 20.0% | 14 | 56 | 70 |
| Costa Rica | 7.9% | 5 | 58 | 63 |
| Liberia | 27.4% | 17 | 45 | 62 |
| Pakistan | 13.3% | 8 | 52 | 60 |
| Egypt | 21.8% | 12 | 43 | 55 |
| Guyana | 19.2% | 10 | 42 | 52 |
| Senegal | 11.8% | 6 | 45 | 51 |
| Tajikistan (Tadzhik) | 14.0% | 7 | 43 | 50 |
| Trinidad And Tobago | 13.0% | 6 | 40 | 46 |
| Canada | 12.2% | 5 | 36 | 41 |
| Unknown Nationality | 5.0% | 2 | 38 | 40 |
| United Kingdom | 5.3% | 2 | 36 | 38 |
| Sierra Leone | 31.2% | 10 | 22 | 32 |
| Ukraine | 11.1% | 3 | 24 | 27 |
| Bangladesh | 3.7% | 1 | 26 | 27 |
| Cameroon | 21.7% | 5 | 18 | 23 |
| Philippines | 17.4% | 4 | 19 | 23 |
| Vietnam | 27.3% | 6 | 16 | 22 |
| Jordan | 20.0% | 4 | 16 | 20 |
| Chile | 5.6% | 1 | 17 | 18 |
| Poland | 22.2% | 4 | 14 | 18 |
| Democratic Republic Of Congo | 35.3% | 6 | 11 | 17 |
| Panama | 12.5% | 2 | 14 | 16 |
| Belarus | 56.2% | 9 | 7 | 16 |
| Kenya | 13.3% | 2 | 13 | 15 |
| Kirghizia (Kyrgyzstan) | 26.7% | 4 | 11 | 15 |
| Burkina Faso | 0.0% | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| Bhutan | 7.7% | 1 | 12 | 13 |
| Bolivia | 0.0% | 0 | 12 | 12 |
| Armenia | 27.3% | 3 | 8 | 11 |
| Chad | 27.3% | 3 | 8 | 11 |
| Nepal | 9.1% | 1 | 10 | 11 |
| Belize | 0.0% | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| Morocco | 44.4% | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| Kazakhstan | 0.0% | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| Afghanistan | 22.2% | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Sudan | 37.5% | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Spain | 0.0% | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| Portugal | 0.0% | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Algeria | 0.0% | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Azerbaijan | 14.3% | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| Turkmenistan | 0.0% | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Argentina | 16.7% | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Albania | 66.7% | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| Yemen | 0.0% | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| South Korea | 40.0% | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Mali | 0.0% | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Thailand | 0.0% | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Ireland | 0.0% | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Indonesia | 25.0% | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Iran | 33.3% | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Dominica | 0.0% | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Israel | 33.3% | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Uruguay | 33.3% | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Gambia | 0.0% | 0 | 2 | 2 |