Judge Walker, Nathaniel B.

Immigration Judge at Santa Ana, CA

8.2%

Approval Rate

179

Granted

2,186

Denied

2,365

Total Decided

Judge Walker, Nathaniel B. serves at the Santa Ana, CA Immigration Court. With an asylum approval rate of 8.2%, 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 Walker (Santa Ana, CA) data snapshot: Overall rate fell from 18% to 2% in 3 years

A few numbers worth knowing if you have a hearing in front of Judge Walker, Nathaniel B. (IJ code NBW, Santa Ana, CA):

Overall track record

9 years on the bench (since 2018), 3,403 cases total, lifetime grant rate 7.6%

Last 3 years (2023–2026): 2,387 cases, grant rate 6.1% — 3.4pp below the Santa Ana court average (9.5%)

Nationality breakdown (2023–2026 cumulative)

Nationality / Cases / Grant rate
Mexico                 785    1.7%
Colombia               287    0.4%
Nicaragua              279    1.8%
Guatemala              216    1.5%
China                  116   17.6%
Venezuela              110    6.6%
Peru                   102    1.0%
El Salvador             90   10.5%
Honduras                85    0.0%
India                   48   21.3%
Russia                  43   61.9%

Year-by-year

2023:  335 cases, 17.5% grant rate
2024:  474 cases, 7.1% grant rate
2025:  669 cases, 4.9% grant rate
2026:  909 cases, 2.1% grant rate

If you've appeared before Judge Walker, 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

Walker, Nathaniel B. is listed with the Santa Ana, CA Immigration Court. The headline asylum grant rate shown here is 8.2% 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 (819 decided, 2.6% grant rate), Guatemala (281 decided, 3.6% grant rate), and Nicaragua (264 decided, 5.7% 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 2026-05-08. 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	2.6%	21	798	819
Guatemala	3.6%	10	271	281
Nicaragua	5.7%	15	249	264
Colombia	0.4%	1	255	256
El Salvador	16.2%	21	109	130
Honduras	2.3%	3	126	129
China	19.6%	19	78	97
Peru	1.2%	1	80	81
Venezuela	8.8%	7	73	80
India	22.2%	10	35	45
Russia	62.2%	28	17	45
Romania	0.0%	0	24	24
Ecuador	13.6%	3	19	22
Vietnam	0.0%	0	15	15
Cameroon	91.7%	11	1	12
Cuba	25.0%	2	6	8
Brazil	37.5%	3	5	8
Iran	87.5%	7	1	8
Turkmenistan	100.0%	7	0	7
Turkey	33.3%	2	4	6
Philippines	0.0%	0	6	6
Jordan	80.0%	4	1	5
Syria	100.0%	4	0	4
Unknown Nationality	0.0%	0	4	4
Afghanistan	0.0%	0	4	4
South Korea	0.0%	0	2	2
Guinea	0.0%	0	2	2
Ukraine	0.0%	0	1	1

Yearly Trends

Year	Approval Rate	Granted	Denied	Decided
2026	2.3%	13	544	557
2025	4.9%	31	599	630
2024	7.1%	33	431	464
2023	17.5%	57	268	325
2022	17.7%	34	158	192
2021	16.8%	17	84	101
2020	10.8%	23	189	212