Judge Owens, Jonathan W.

Immigration Judge at Cleveland, OH

2.5%

Approval Rate

Granted

2,679

Denied

2,737

Total Decided

Judge Owens, Jonathan W. serves at the Cleveland, OH Immigration Court. With an asylum approval rate of 2.5%, 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 Owens (Cleveland, OH) data snapshot: 5,550 cases over 13 years, 2.5% grant rate

A few numbers worth knowing if you have a hearing in front of Judge Owens, Jonathan W. (IJ code JNO, Cleveland, OH):

Overall track record

13 years on the bench (since 2014), 5,550 cases total, lifetime grant rate 2.5%

Last 3 years (2023–2026): 2,980 cases, grant rate 2.0% — roughly in line with the Cleveland court average (2.9%)

Nationality breakdown (2023–2026 cumulative)

Nationality / Cases / Grant rate
Guatemala              931    0.2%
Honduras               589    0.2%
Mexico                 391    2.7%
Venezuela              216    2.5%
Nicaragua              141    4.3%
El Salvador            126    1.5%
Colombia                83    1.5%
Haiti                   82    0.0%
Brazil                  57    0.0%
Ecuador                 45    0.0%
Mauritania              35    3.8%

Year-by-year

2023:  671 cases, 3.9% grant rate
2024:  505 cases, 4.5% grant rate
2025: 1205 cases, 0.8% grant rate
2026:  599 cases, 0.4% grant rate

If you've appeared before Judge Owens, 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

Owens, Jonathan W. is listed with the Cleveland, OH Immigration Court. The headline asylum grant rate shown here is 2.5% based on granted and denied asylum decisions represented in the current dataset.

Among the largest nationality groups shown for this judge, the table highlights Guatemala (975 decided, 0.6% grant rate), Honduras (597 decided, 0.7% grant rate), and Mexico (373 decided, 2.1% 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
Guatemala	0.6%	6	969	975
Honduras	0.7%	4	593	597
Mexico	2.1%	8	365	373
Venezuela	4.3%	7	154	161
El Salvador	3.0%	4	131	135
Nicaragua	4.3%	5	111	116
Colombia	1.7%	1	59	60
Haiti	0.0%	0	54	54
Brazil	0.0%	0	51	51
Ecuador	0.0%	0	40	40
Mauritania	4.5%	1	21	22
Senegal	4.8%	1	20	21
Peru	0.0%	0	21	21
India	7.7%	1	12	13
Guinea	15.4%	2	11	13
Ghana	8.3%	1	11	12
Uzbekistan	0.0%	0	9	9
Nigeria	62.5%	5	3	8
Turkey	50.0%	4	4	8
Dominican Republic	0.0%	0	8	8
Cuba	42.9%	3	4	7
Jamaica	14.3%	1	6	7
Cameroon	0.0%	0	6	6
China	0.0%	0	6	6
Jordan	50.0%	2	2	4
Russia	0.0%	0	3	3
Costa Rica	0.0%	0	3	3
Somalia	50.0%	1	1	2
Ukraine	100.0%	1	0	1
Kirghizia (Kyrgyzstan)	0.0%	0	1	1

Yearly Trends

Year	Approval Rate	Granted	Denied	Decided
2026	0.2%	1	417	418
2025	0.8%	7	838	845
2024	4.5%	15	319	334
2023	3.9%	18	439	457
2022	3.6%	9	240	249
2021	6.0%	9	142	151
2020	4.0%	15	359	374