Immigration Judge at Phoenix, AZ
Judge John W. Cortes serves at the Phoenix, AZ Immigration Court. With an asylum approval rate of 8.7%, this judge is below average compared to the national average. Data sourced from EOIR (Executive Office for Immigration Review).
Immigration Judge John W. Cortes denied asylum to a mother of five who he found credibly feared cartel murder in Mexico, applying the material-support bar after a cartel terrorism designation.
Source: https://www.kjzz.org/fronteras-desk/2025-05-22/phoenix-immigration-judge-denies-asylum-for-mom-of-5-who-fears-cartel-will-kill-her-in-mexico
This post summarizes publicly reported news and links to the original source. Details may evolve; see the source for specifics.
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John W. Cortes is listed with the Phoenix, AZ Immigration Court. The headline asylum grant rate shown here is 8.7% 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 (2,145 decided, 2.3% grant rate), Guatemala (563 decided, 1.6% grant rate), and Venezuela (472 decided, 15.0% 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 Other procedural outcomes, including terminated, withdrawn, administratively closed, or removed cases, are tracked separately where available and are not treated as asylum grants.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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mexico | 2,145 | 2.3% |
| Guatemala | 563 | 1.6% |
| Venezuela | 472 | 15.0% |
| Honduras | 274 | 2.6% |
| Colombia | 248 | 1.6% |
| Cuba | 180 | 38.3% |
| Nicaragua | 165 | 2.4% |
| El Salvador | 121 | 4.1% |
| Year | Cases | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1,374 | 1.2% |
| 2025 | 1,469 | 4.1% |
| 2024 | 715 | 10.1% |
| 2023 | 630 | 13.2% |
| 2022 | 68 | 16.2% |
| 2021 | 76 | 14.5% |
| 2020 | 413 | 26.4% |
Judge John W. Cortes's asylum approval rate is 8.7% according to EOIR FOIA data.
The dataset lists 5,138 total asylum cases for Judge John W. Cortes.
The approval rate is calculated as granted divided by (granted + denied). It excludes terminations and withdrawals, and the source is EOIR FOIA data.