Judge McDonald, Kristofer R.

7.6%

Approval Rate

Granted

1,362

Denied

1,459

Total Decided

Judge McDonald, Kristofer R. serves at the West Los Angeles, CA Immigration Court. With an asylum approval rate of 7.6%, 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 McDonald (West Los Angeles, CA) data snapshot: 2,116 cases over 31 years, 7.2% grant rate

A few numbers worth knowing if you have a hearing in front of Judge McDonald, Kristofer R. (IJ code KRM, West Los Angeles, CA):

Overall track record

31 years on the bench (since 1996), 2,116 cases total, lifetime grant rate 7.2%

Last 3 years (2023–2026): 2,020 cases, grant rate 7.3% — 5.8pp below the West Los Angeles court average (13.1%)

Nationality breakdown (2023–2026 cumulative)

Nationality / Cases / Grant rate
Guatemala              374    1.5%
Mexico                 358    1.3%
Colombia               219    0.0%
El Salvador            199    0.6%
Nicaragua              183   10.1%
Honduras               174    1.3%
Peru                    84    1.3%
Venezuela               74    8.5%
Russia                  57   57.4%
China                   56   48.0%
Ecuador                 48    0.0%

Year-by-year

2023:    3 cases, 0.0% grant rate
2024:    8 cases, 0.0% grant rate
2025:  990 cases, 11.7% grant rate
2026: 1019 cases, 3.1% grant rate

If you've appeared before Judge McDonald, 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

McDonald, Kristofer R. is listed with the West Los Angeles, CA Immigration Court. The headline asylum grant rate shown here is 7.6% 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 (310 decided, 1.3% grant rate), Mexico (259 decided, 1.5% grant rate), and Nicaragua (159 decided, 8.8% 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	1.3%	4	306	310
Mexico	1.5%	4	255	259
Nicaragua	8.8%	14	145	159
Colombia	0.0%	0	154	154
Honduras	1.5%	2	129	131
El Salvador	0.8%	1	126	127
Peru	1.5%	1	64	65
Venezuela	9.8%	6	55	61
Russia	58.3%	28	20	48
China	50.0%	21	21	42
Ecuador	0.0%	0	39	39
India	16.7%	2	10	12
Philippines	50.0%	6	6	12
Belize	0.0%	0	8	8
Armenia	12.5%	1	7	8
Stateless - Alien Unable To Name A Country	100.0%	5	0	5
Cameroon	25.0%	1	3	4
Cuba	0.0%	0	3	3
Kazakhstan	0.0%	0	3	3
Ukraine	33.3%	1	2	3
Ethiopia	0.0%	0	3	3
Egypt	0.0%	0	3	3

Yearly Trends

Year	Approval Rate	Granted	Denied	Decided
2026	2.2%	14	611	625
2025	11.7%	103	780	883
2024	0.0%	0	7	7
2023	0.0%	0	3	3
2022	0.0%	0	2	2
2021	100.0%	2	0	2
2020	0.0%	0	6	6