Judge Lafuente, Cynthia

5.5%

Approval Rate

246

Granted

3,611

Denied

3,857

Total Decided

Judge Lafuente, Cynthia serves at the San Antonio, TX Immigration Court. With an asylum approval rate of 5.5%, this judge is below average compared to the national average. Data sourced from EOIR (Executive Office for Immigration Review).

Community Discussion

DATA AsylumTracker Data 2026-05-22

Judge Lafuente (San Antonio, TX) data snapshot: Overall rate fell from 14% to 2% in 3 years

A few numbers worth knowing if you have a hearing in front of Judge Lafuente, Cynthia (IJ code CLG, San Antonio, TX):

Overall track record

33 years on the bench (since 1994), 8,690 cases total, lifetime grant rate 5.4%

Last 3 years (2023–2026): 4,951 cases, grant rate 5.1% — roughly in line with the San Antonio court average (4.8%)

Nationality breakdown (2023–2026 cumulative)

Nationality / Cases / Grant rate
Honduras              1367    0.9%
Cuba                  1013    6.0%
Mexico                 746    8.1%
Guatemala              442    0.3%
Venezuela              390   16.3%
Nicaragua              268    0.9%
El Salvador            222    2.7%
Colombia               116    0.0%
Ecuador                 65    0.0%
Nepal                   35   63.3%
Peru                    25    0.0%

Year-by-year

2023:  687 cases, 14.2% grant rate
2024: 1073 cases, 4.9% grant rate
2025: 1542 cases, 5.6% grant rate
2026: 1649 cases, 1.6% grant rate

If you've appeared before Judge Lafuente, I'd love to hear:

1. What's your nationality, and when was your most recent hearing?

2. How did your attorney prepare for this judge specifically?

Source: EOIR (U.S. Executive Office for Immigration Review) public statistics, May 2026 release, compiled by AsylumTracker. A judge's historical pattern does not predict the outcome of any individual case; this is shared to help set realistic expectations. Real-experience accounts from the community are welcome.

Have experience with this judge? Open AsylumTracker to reply or read more responses from the community.

How to Interpret These Judge Statistics

Lafuente, Cynthia is listed with the San Antonio, TX Immigration Court. The headline asylum grant rate shown here is 5.5% based on granted and denied asylum decisions represented in the current dataset.

Among the largest nationality groups shown for this judge, the table highlights Honduras (1,613 decided, 0.7% grant rate), Guatemala (466 decided, 0.2% grant rate), and Mexico (440 decided, 20.9% grant rate). Compare these rows with the judge's overall rate because nationality mix can materially change how the headline number should be read.

Grant rate is calculated as granted / (granted + denied). Other procedural outcomes, including terminated, withdrawn, administratively closed, or removed cases, are tracked separately where available and are not treated as asylum grants.

This page is based on public EOIR data last updated 2026-05-08. It is for research and information only, not legal advice.

Read the grant-rate methodology or learn how to read immigration judge statistics.

Approval Rate by Nationality

Nationality	Approval Rate	Granted	Denied	Decided
Honduras	0.7%	11	1,602	1,613
Guatemala	0.2%	1	465	466
Mexico	20.9%	92	348	440
El Salvador	2.5%	8	309	317
Venezuela	21.8%	52	187	239
Nicaragua	1.4%	3	219	222
Ecuador	0.0%	0	184	184
Cuba	29.1%	32	78	110
Colombia	2.0%	1	49	50
Nepal	66.7%	22	11	33
Peru	4.2%	1	23	24
Democratic Republic Of Congo	0.0%	0	13	13
Romania	0.0%	0	13	13
Angola	0.0%	0	12	12
India	0.0%	0	11	11
Dominican Republic	0.0%	0	11	11
China	36.4%	4	7	11
Cameroon	88.9%	8	1	9
Sri Lanka	0.0%	0	8	8
Afghanistan	25.0%	2	6	8
Haiti	0.0%	0	7	7
Brazil	0.0%	0	7	7
Belize	0.0%	0	7	7
Congo	0.0%	0	6	6
Vietnam	20.0%	1	4	5
Nigeria	100.0%	4	0	4
Iran	75.0%	3	1	4
Egypt	0.0%	0	4	4
Turkey	0.0%	0	4	4
Guinea	0.0%	0	4	4
Uganda	0.0%	0	3	3
Jordan	0.0%	0	3	3
Bangladesh	0.0%	0	3	3
Philippines	0.0%	0	1	1
Chile	100.0%	1	0	1

Yearly Trends

Year	Approval Rate	Granted	Denied	Decided
2026	1.4%	9	652	661
2025	5.6%	45	763	808
2024	4.9%	37	719	756
2023	14.2%	51	309	360
2022	24.7%	39	119	158
2021	92.9%	39	3	42
2020	4.1%	46	1,081	1,127

Community Discussion

Judge Lafuente (San Antonio, TX) data snapshot: Overall rate fell from 14% to 2% in 3 years

How to Interpret These Judge Statistics

Approval Rate by Nationality

Yearly Trends

Get Full Case-Level Analytics