Judge Hitesman, Jonathan W.

14.5%

Approval Rate

189

Granted

1,186

Denied

1,375

Total Decided

Judge Hitesman, Jonathan W. serves at the Sacramento, CA Immigration Court. With an asylum approval rate of 14.5%, 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 Hitesman (Sacramento, CA) data snapshot: Overall rate fell from 20% to 4% in 3 years

A few numbers worth knowing if you have a hearing in front of Judge Hitesman, Jonathan W. (IJ code JH1, Sacramento, CA):

Overall track record

6 years on the bench (since 2021), 2,089 cases total, lifetime grant rate 13.4%

Last 3 years (2023–2026): 1,858 cases, grant rate 7.7% — 28.7pp below the Sacramento court average (36.4%)

Nationality breakdown (2023–2026 cumulative)

Nationality / Cases / Grant rate
Mexico                 704    6.9%
Guatemala              238    1.7%
El Salvador            130    3.2%
Colombia               120    1.2%
Honduras               119    1.0%
Nicaragua              113    4.6%
Venezuela               98    1.4%
Peru                    70    0.0%
Russia                  62   69.1%
India                   48   23.3%
Ecuador                 24    0.0%

Year-by-year

2023:  150 cases, 19.7% grant rate
2024:  127 cases, 16.0% grant rate
2025:  716 cases, 7.2% grant rate
2026:  865 cases, 3.8% grant rate

If you've appeared before Judge Hitesman, 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

Hitesman, Jonathan W. is listed with the Sacramento, CA Immigration Court. The headline asylum grant rate shown here is 14.5% based on granted and denied asylum decisions represented in the current dataset.

Among the largest nationality groups shown for this judge, the table highlights Mexico (580 decided, 12.8% grant rate), Guatemala (171 decided, 4.1% grant rate), and Honduras (103 decided, 4.9% 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
Mexico	12.8%	74	506	580
Guatemala	4.1%	7	164	171
Honduras	4.9%	5	98	103
Nicaragua	10.0%	9	81	90
El Salvador	3.5%	3	82	85
Colombia	1.5%	1	65	66
Russia	71.9%	41	16	57
Venezuela	1.8%	1	55	56
India	50.0%	22	22	44
Peru	0.0%	0	40	40
Ecuador	0.0%	0	13	13
Afghanistan	0.0%	0	12	12
Haiti	0.0%	0	12	12
Ukraine	81.8%	9	2	11
Vietnam	42.9%	3	4	7
Libya	100.0%	5	0	5
Romania	0.0%	0	5	5
Egypt	100.0%	4	0	4
Iraq	100.0%	3	0	3
Fiji	66.7%	2	1	3
Cuba	0.0%	0	3	3
China	0.0%	0	3	3
Brazil	0.0%	0	2	2

Yearly Trends

Year	Approval Rate	Granted	Denied	Decided
2026	2.9%	11	370	381
2025	7.2%	43	556	599
2024	15.8%	16	85	101
2023	19.7%	28	114	142
2022	65.3%	47	25	72
2021	49.6%	63	64	127
2020	0.0%	0	1	1