Immigration Judge at Detroit, MI
Judge David C. Koelsch serves at the Detroit, MI Immigration Court. With an asylum approval rate of 32.0%, this judge is average compared to the national average. Data sourced from EOIR (Executive Office for Immigration Review).
Former Baltimore immigration judge David Koelsch resigned in September 2025 and was later reported saying he left amid pressure and firings affecting immigration judges.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/09/trump-administration-immigration-judges
This post summarizes publicly reported news and links to the original source. Details may evolve; see the source for specifics.
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David C. Koelsch is listed with the Detroit, MI Immigration Court. The headline asylum grant rate shown here is 32.0% based on granted and denied asylum decisions represented in the current dataset.
Among the largest nationality groups shown for this judge, the table highlights El Salvador (1,025 decided, 53.9% grant rate), Honduras (740 decided, 28.9% grant rate), and Guatemala (616 decided, 22.9% 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 Other procedural outcomes, including terminated, withdrawn, administratively closed, or removed cases, are tracked separately where available and are not treated as asylum grants.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 2026-07-01. It is for research and information only, not legal advice.
Read the grant-rate methodology or learn how to read immigration judge statistics.
| Nationality | Cases | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|
| El Salvador | 1,025 | 53.9% |
| Honduras | 740 | 28.9% |
| Guatemala | 616 | 22.9% |
| Mexico | 324 | 4.6% |
| Cameroon | 158 | 91.1% |
| Venezuela | 152 | 8.6% |
| Nicaragua | 112 | 36.6% |
| Colombia | 101 | 8.9% |
| Year | Cases | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 5 | 100.0% |
| 2025 | 957 | 5.3% |
| 2024 | 631 | 37.1% |
| 2023 | 617 | 42.5% |
| 2022 | 318 | 77.7% |
| 2021 | 438 | 71.7% |
| 2020 | 934 | 32.8% |
Judge David C. Koelsch's asylum approval rate is 32.0% according to EOIR FOIA data.
The dataset lists 5,324 total asylum cases for Judge David C. Koelsch.
The approval rate is calculated as granted divided by (granted + denied). It excludes terminations and withdrawals, and the source is EOIR FOIA data.