Study finds wide disparity in asylum denial

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WASHINGTON - Immigration judges vary sharply in their willingness to grant asylum to foreigners seeking to live in the United States — with denial rates ranging from 10 percent to more than 98 percent, according to researchers who reviewed federal figures.

A foreigner seeking asylum in the United States is far more likely to be rejected if the case is decided by Judge Mahlon Hanson in Miami than by some other judges in the system, according to the study being released Monday.

The study is based on data from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, a Justice Department agency which oversees immigration courts, for 1994-99 and 2000-05. The report was done by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which collects and analyzes federal government data.

During the 1994-99 period, Judge William F. Jankun of New York rejected 98.3 percent of his 1,375 cases. Multiple efforts to reach him were unsuccessful.

"The goal of any court system is evenhanded justice. It is an important goal and the results certainly raise questions about whether that goal is being achieved," said Susan Long, a Syracuse University professor and co-director of the clearinghouse, which is based at Syracuse.

From the 2000 budget year through the first months of the 2005 budget year, Hanson had the highest proportion of denials, rejecting 96.7 percent of his 1,118 decisions in cases in which the asylum-seeker had a lawyer.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales began a review of the immigration courts in January after chastising some of the immigration judges for "intemperate or even abusive" conduct toward asylum seekers. Department spokesman Charles Miller said the review is continuing.

But the study said the court data "document that this problem has existed for at least a decade and that it persists even when the applicants being compared appear to be quite similar."

The U.S. grants asylum to people who fear persecution if they are returned to their countries because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. The U.S. granted asylum to 13,520 people in 2005, according to Citizenship and Immigration Services statistics.

New York Judge Margaret McManus rejected just 9.8 percent of her 1,638 cases in which the asylum-seeker had a lawyer. The median denial rate was 65 percent.

Hanson previously worked for the now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service. McManus was a staff lawyer with the Legal Aid Society's immigration unit.

Hanson's legal assistant referred calls for comment to the Executive Office for Immigration Review. Aides to McManus could not be reached.

Rates were worse for asylum-seekers without lawyers, with 93 percent losing their case compared to 64 percent for those with a lawyer. The denial rate for all asylum seekers was 69 percent.

People from El Salvador, Mexico and Haiti were denied asylum 80 percent of the time; asylum-seekers from Afghanistan and Burma were denied asylum 30 percent of the time.

Previous studies have shown similar disparities suggesting a lack of standards for judges, said Gideon Aranoff, president of Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which assists refugees. He said the consistent results suggest judges lack standards and without them, success in asylum claims is a matter of "luck of the draw."

Although immigration is a top issue in Congress this election year, asylum is getting scant attention in the debate over illegal immigrants and guest workers.

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