Judge O'Malley, Brenda

Immigration Judge at Boston, MA

38.9%

Approval Rate

1,341

Granted

2,025

Denied

3,366

Total Decided

Judge O'Malley, Brenda serves at the Boston, MA Immigration Court. With an asylum approval rate of 38.9%, this judge is average compared to the national average. Data sourced from EOIR (Executive Office for Immigration Review).

Community Discussion

DATA AsylumTracker Data 2026-05-22

Judge O'Malley (Boston, MA) data snapshot: El Salvador vs Haiti grant rates differ 12×, overall rate fell from 47% to 13% in 3 years

A few numbers worth knowing if you have a hearing in front of Judge O'Malley, Brenda (IJ code OMB, Boston, MA):

Overall track record

39 years on the bench (since 1988), 13,353 cases total, lifetime grant rate 38.3%

Last 3 years (2023–2026): 5,307 cases, grant rate 32.1% — 3.9pp above the Boston court average (28.2%)

Nationality breakdown (2023–2026 cumulative)

Nationality / Cases / Grant rate
Brazil                1710   12.6%
Guatemala              940   40.6%
El Salvador            699   53.1%
Honduras               388   30.7%
Dominican Republic     231   16.3%
Haiti                  226    4.4%
Colombia               219    7.3%
Ecuador                190   33.0%
Mexico                  91   33.9%
Venezuela               42   26.3%
Cape Verde              31   30.8%

El Salvador applicants see a 53.1% grant rate versus 4.4% for Haiti applicants — a 12.0× gap on this judge's docket.

Year-by-year

2023: 1428 cases, 46.9% grant rate
2024: 1329 cases, 56.8% grant rate
2025: 1387 cases, 27.2% grant rate
2026: 1163 cases, 12.9% grant rate

If you've appeared before Judge O'Malley, 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

O'Malley, Brenda is listed with the Boston, MA Immigration Court. The headline asylum grant rate shown here is 38.9% 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 (756 decided, 52.2% grant rate), Brazil (743 decided, 15.6% grant rate), and El Salvador (572 decided, 56.1% 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	52.2%	395	361	756
Brazil	15.6%	116	627	743
El Salvador	56.1%	321	251	572
Honduras	41.6%	124	174	298
Dominican Republic	26.0%	38	108	146
Colombia	15.1%	22	124	146
Ecuador	39.3%	48	74	122
Haiti	11.6%	14	107	121
Mexico	53.8%	43	37	80
Uganda	90.2%	37	4	41
Angola	56.5%	13	10	23
China	73.9%	17	6	23
Democratic Republic Of Congo	50.0%	10	10	20
Russia	57.9%	11	8	19
Kenya	55.6%	10	8	18
Nicaragua	5.9%	1	16	17
Cape Verde	31.2%	5	11	16
Venezuela	28.6%	4	10	14
Peru	21.4%	3	11	14
Nepal	76.9%	10	3	13
Congo	33.3%	4	8	12
Turkey	16.7%	2	10	12
Ghana	90.0%	9	1	10
Egypt	100.0%	9	0	9
Burundi	100.0%	9	0	9
Chile	0.0%	0	9	9
Nigeria	87.5%	7	1	8
India	50.0%	4	4	8
Bangladesh	85.7%	6	1	7
Belarus	100.0%	6	0	6
Lebanon	83.3%	5	1	6
Indonesia	50.0%	3	3	6
Jamaica	33.3%	2	4	6
Namibia	66.7%	4	2	6
United Kingdom	0.0%	0	6	6
Cameroon	80.0%	4	1	5
Bolivia	75.0%	3	1	4
Ethiopia	100.0%	4	0	4
Vietnam	66.7%	2	1	3
Sri Lanka	0.0%	0	3	3
Iraq	100.0%	3	0	3
Djibouti	100.0%	3	0	3
Dominica	0.0%	0	3	3
Albania	100.0%	3	0	3
Pakistan	33.3%	1	2	3
Cuba	0.0%	0	2	2
Liberia	50.0%	1	1	2
Senegal	100.0%	2	0	2
Jordan	100.0%	2	0	2
Portugal	50.0%	1	1	2

Yearly Trends

Year	Approval Rate	Granted	Denied	Decided
2026	11.6%	68	520	588
2025	27.2%	173	462	635
2024	56.8%	237	180	417
2023	46.9%	276	312	588
2022	55.4%	309	249	558
2021	49.9%	185	186	371
2020	53.5%	212	184	396

Community Discussion

Judge O'Malley (Boston, MA) data snapshot: El Salvador vs Haiti grant rates differ 12×, overall rate fell from 47% to 13% in 3 years

How to Interpret These Judge Statistics

Approval Rate by Nationality

Yearly Trends

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