Immigration Judge at Chicago, IL
Judge Kristi Nelson serves at the Chicago, IL Immigration Court. With an asylum approval rate of 7.3%, this judge is below average compared to the national average. Data sourced from EOIR (Executive Office for Immigration Review).
Former Chicago Immigration Judge Kristi Nelson resigned in April 2025 after publicly saying she did not want to be part of changes in how immigration justice was being administered.
Source: https://news.wttw.com/index.php/2025/07/17/former-chicago-immigration-judges-discuss-trump-administration-firings
This post summarizes publicly reported news and links to the original source. Details may evolve; see the source for specifics.
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Kristi Nelson is listed with the Chicago, IL Immigration Court. The headline asylum grant rate shown here is 7.3% based on granted and denied asylum decisions represented in the current dataset.
Among the largest nationality groups shown for this judge, the table highlights Venezuela (290 decided, 2.8% grant rate), Mexico (191 decided, 2.1% grant rate), and Nicaragua (136 decided, 3.7% 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 Other procedural outcomes, including terminated, withdrawn, administratively closed, or removed cases, are tracked separately where available and are not treated as asylum grants.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 |
|---|---|---|
| Venezuela | 290 | 2.8% |
| Mexico | 191 | 2.1% |
| Nicaragua | 136 | 3.7% |
| Guatemala | 98 | 2.0% |
| Ecuador | 94 | 0.0% |
| Honduras | 79 | 1.3% |
| Colombia | 75 | 4.0% |
| Russia | 25 | 56.0% |
| Year | Cases | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 524 | 7.6% |
| 2024 | 616 | 7.1% |
| 2023 | 2 | 0.0% |
Judge Kristi Nelson's asylum approval rate is 7.3% according to EOIR FOIA data.
The dataset lists 1,148 total asylum cases for Judge Kristi Nelson.
The approval rate is calculated as granted divided by (granted + denied). It excludes terminations and withdrawals, and the source is EOIR FOIA data.