Judge Odell, John C.

Immigration Judge at Tacoma, WA

8.9%

Approval Rate

159

Granted

2,315

Denied

2,474

Total Decided

Judge Odell, John C. serves at the Tacoma, WA Immigration Court. With an asylum approval rate of 8.9%, 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 Odell (Tacoma, WA) data snapshot: 7,198 cases over 29 years, 8.8% grant rate

A few numbers worth knowing if you have a hearing in front of Judge Odell, John C. (IJ code JCO, Tacoma, WA):

Overall track record

29 years on the bench (since 1998), 7,198 cases total, lifetime grant rate 8.8%

Last 3 years (2023–2026): 2,592 cases, grant rate 4.3% — 5.5pp below the Tacoma court average (9.8%)

Nationality breakdown (2023–2026 cumulative)

Nationality / Cases / Grant rate
Mexico                1032    1.2%
Guatemala              201    1.5%
Honduras               195    3.3%
Nicaragua              170    4.3%
Venezuela              114    6.7%
Brazil                  83    0.0%
Colombia                79    3.1%
Cuba                    68    8.3%
Peru                    62    0.0%
El Salvador             61    3.9%
India                   56   12.9%

Year-by-year

2023:  493 cases, 8.8% grant rate
2024:  620 cases, 3.8% grant rate
2025:  937 cases, 3.0% grant rate
2026:  542 cases, 1.8% grant rate

If you've appeared before Judge Odell, 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

Odell, John C. is listed with the Tacoma, WA Immigration Court. The headline asylum grant rate shown here is 8.9% based on granted and denied asylum decisions represented in the current dataset.

Among the largest nationality groups shown for this judge, the table highlights Mexico (1,150 decided, 2.2% grant rate), Honduras (208 decided, 2.4% grant rate), and Nicaragua (183 decided, 6.6% 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
Mexico	2.2%	25	1,125	1,150
Honduras	2.4%	5	203	208
Nicaragua	6.6%	12	171	183
Guatemala	2.3%	4	167	171
Brazil	0.0%	0	98	98
Venezuela	12.4%	12	85	97
El Salvador	4.8%	4	79	83
Colombia	4.4%	3	65	68
Peru	0.0%	0	49	49
Romania	0.0%	0	42	42
Cuba	58.5%	24	17	41
India	18.4%	7	31	38
Afghanistan	21.9%	7	25	32
China	36.7%	11	19	30
Ukraine	25.0%	6	18	24
Cameroon	63.6%	14	8	22
Ecuador	0.0%	0	22	22
Russia	33.3%	7	14	21
Canada	0.0%	0	10	10
Dominican Republic	0.0%	0	9	9
Turkey	0.0%	0	9	9
Somalia	57.1%	4	3	7
Jordan	14.3%	1	6	7
Haiti	0.0%	0	6	6
Georgia	83.3%	5	1	6
Philippines	0.0%	0	6	6
Vietnam	0.0%	0	5	5
Senegal	20.0%	1	4	5
Iran	60.0%	3	2	5
Eritrea	25.0%	1	3	4
Democratic Republic Of Congo	25.0%	1	3	4
Unknown Nationality	0.0%	0	3	3
Bangladesh	33.3%	1	2	3
Ethiopia	0.0%	0	2	2
Jamaica	0.0%	0	2	2
Egypt	50.0%	1	1	2

Yearly Trends

Year	Approval Rate	Granted	Denied	Decided
2026	1.7%	4	231	235
2025	3.0%	20	646	666
2024	3.8%	20	508	528
2023	8.8%	38	395	433
2022	7.5%	20	245	265
2021	8.2%	12	135	147
2020	17.6%	69	324	393

Community Discussion

Judge Odell (Tacoma, WA) data snapshot: 7,198 cases over 29 years, 8.8% grant rate

How to Interpret These Judge Statistics

Approval Rate by Nationality

Yearly Trends

Get Full Case-Level Analytics