Immigration court
Houston South, TX Immigration Court
16 judges · TX
EOIR data through Oct 1, 2026 · updated monthly
- 948
- Granted
- 57,282
- Denied
- 16
- Judges
Distribution
How this court's judges compare
At Houston South, TX, 16 judges range from 0.2% to 16.8%.
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): Houston South, TX Immigration Court granted asylum in 0.8% of 21,486 decided cases. That is lower than the court's all-time rate of 1.6% (58,230 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 Houston South, TX Immigration Court, so the court average can differ sharply from any one judge's profile.
High-volume judge profiles at this court include Benton, Jimmie Lee (41,083 total cases), Yates, Clarease Rankin (29,364 total cases), and Dierkes, Joseph (13,493 total cases). The largest nationality groups shown for this court (fiscal years 2020–2026) include Honduras (11,553 decided, 0.5% grant rate), Mexico (6,130 decided, 3.0% grant rate), and Guatemala (5,392 decided, 0.5% 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 Houston South, TX Immigration Court is the assigned filing location for 142 ZIP codes. Main cities by state:
TX — Houston, Richmond, Sugar Land, Katy, Missouri City, Pearland, Alleyton, Altair, Alvin, Angleton, Bay City, Beasley, Bellaire, Bellville, Bleiblerville and 84 more cities
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benton, Jimmie Lee | 4.3% | 1,612 | 36,229 | 37,841 |
| Yates, Clarease Rankin | 16.8% | 3,943 | 19,567 | 23,510 |
| Dierkes, Joseph | 16.4% | 1,643 | 8,367 | 10,010 |
| Jones, Delana M. | 1.0% | 43 | 4,361 | 4,404 |
| Brown, Kevin | 1.3% | 68 | 5,202 | 5,270 |
| Schumann, Christopher M. | 1.4% | 70 | 4,770 | 4,840 |
| Hoffman, Geoffrey | 3.9% | 171 | 4,250 | 4,421 |
| Jenkins, Arkesia | 1.5% | 48 | 3,118 | 3,166 |
| Cordero Gonzalez, Miguel A. | 1.8% | 61 | 3,251 | 3,312 |
| Joyce, Jacquelyn J. | 0.8% | 25 | 2,992 | 3,017 |
| Paxton, David M. | 2.9% | 103 | 3,421 | 3,524 |
| Stawar, Andrew | 1.5% | 43 | 2,756 | 2,799 |
| Thompson, Kenley | 2.5% | 46 | 1,758 | 1,804 |
| Sharp, Noelle | 0.9% | 20 | 2,291 | 2,311 |
| Andresen, Jonathan Charles. | 0.4% | 5 | 1,419 | 1,424 |
| Yeh, Lian | 0.2% | 2 | 1,278 | 1,280 |
Approval Rate by Nationality
Fiscal years 2020–2026 (Oct 2019 – Sep 2026).
| Nationality | Approval Rate | Granted | Denied | Decided |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honduras | 0.5% | 61 | 11,492 | 11,553 |
| Mexico | 3.0% | 185 | 5,945 | 6,130 |
| Guatemala | 0.5% | 25 | 5,367 | 5,392 |
| Venezuela | 1.7% | 79 | 4,643 | 4,722 |
| El Salvador | 1.7% | 75 | 4,300 | 4,375 |
| Colombia | 0.7% | 19 | 2,679 | 2,698 |
| Cuba | 2.8% | 67 | 2,295 | 2,362 |
| Nicaragua | 1.1% | 26 | 2,319 | 2,345 |
| Nigeria | 10.5% | 62 | 530 | 592 |
| Romania | 1.1% | 5 | 438 | 443 |
| Ecuador | 0.7% | 2 | 292 | 294 |
| Peru | 0.4% | 1 | 263 | 264 |
| China | 9.1% | 18 | 180 | 198 |
| Turkey | 17.3% | 34 | 162 | 196 |
| India | 2.1% | 4 | 185 | 189 |
| Dominican Republic | 0.0% | 0 | 134 | 134 |
| Afghanistan | 9.0% | 12 | 121 | 133 |
| Pakistan | 14.2% | 16 | 97 | 113 |
| Haiti | 1.1% | 1 | 86 | 87 |
| Jordan | 0.0% | 0 | 76 | 76 |
| Vietnam | 12.5% | 7 | 49 | 56 |
| Senegal | 3.8% | 2 | 50 | 52 |
| Russia | 7.8% | 4 | 47 | 51 |
| Cameroon | 18.0% | 9 | 41 | 50 |
| Chile | 2.1% | 1 | 47 | 48 |
| Brazil | 0.0% | 0 | 36 | 36 |
| Belize | 2.8% | 1 | 35 | 36 |
| Iran | 21.4% | 6 | 22 | 28 |
| Angola | 0.0% | 0 | 28 | 28 |
| Syria | 0.0% | 0 | 27 | 27 |
| Equatorial Guinea | 3.7% | 1 | 26 | 27 |
| Lebanon | 3.8% | 1 | 25 | 26 |
| Unknown Nationality | 0.0% | 0 | 23 | 23 |
| Panama | 0.0% | 0 | 22 | 22 |
| Egypt | 23.8% | 5 | 16 | 21 |
| Kenya | 15.8% | 3 | 16 | 19 |
| Sri Lanka | 0.0% | 0 | 18 | 18 |
| Jamaica | 5.9% | 1 | 16 | 17 |
| Bolivia | 0.0% | 0 | 17 | 17 |
| Costa Rica | 0.0% | 0 | 17 | 17 |
| Burkina Faso | 20.0% | 3 | 12 | 15 |
| Spain | 0.0% | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| Ghana | 0.0% | 0 | 12 | 12 |
| Iraq | 16.7% | 2 | 10 | 12 |
| Israel | 0.0% | 0 | 12 | 12 |
| United Arab Emirates | 0.0% | 0 | 12 | 12 |
| Ethiopia | 54.5% | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| Eritrea | 36.4% | 4 | 7 | 11 |
| Kazakhstan | 0.0% | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| Taiwan | 0.0% | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| Philippines | 25.0% | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| Nepal | 0.0% | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Sierra Leone | 0.0% | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Burma (Myanmar) | 50.0% | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Niger | 16.7% | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Democratic Republic Of Congo | 0.0% | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Italy | 0.0% | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| South Africa | 0.0% | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Tajikistan (Tadzhik) | 0.0% | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Algeria | 0.0% | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Congo | 0.0% | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Gabon | 0.0% | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Guyana | 0.0% | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Libya | 0.0% | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Morocco | 0.0% | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Azerbaijan | 0.0% | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Canada | 0.0% | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Tanzania | 0.0% | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Uganda | 0.0% | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Uruguay | 0.0% | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivoire) | 0.0% | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Holland | 0.0% | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Saudi Arabia | 0.0% | 0 | 1 | 1 |