Judge Alison Igoe

FY 2018 - 2023, Hyattsville Immigration Court

Published Oct 19, 2023

Alison M. Igoe was appointed as an Immigration Judge to begin hearing cases in December 2021. Judge Igoe earned a Bachelor of Science in 1977 from Georgetown University, a Juris Doctor in 1987 from New York Law School, and a Master of Laws in 2000 from the Georgetown University Law Center. From 2011 to 2021, she served as Senior Counsel for National Security, Office of Immigration Litigation (OIL), Department of Justice (DOJ), in the District of Columbia. From 2009 to 2011, she served as the Resident Legal Advisor at the U.S. Embassy in Dili, Timor-Leste. From 2001 to 2009, she served as Senior Counsel for Litigation, OIL, DOJ. From 2001 to 2002, she served as Associate General Counsel, Office of General Counsel, for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, in the District of Columbia. From 1997 to 2001, she served as Trial Attorney, OIL, DOJ, in the District of Columbia. From 1995 to 1997, she served as an Associate in the Appellate Group of Greenberg Traurig, in Miami. From 1989 to 1995, she served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender with the Office of the Federal Public Defender, in Miami. From 1987 to 1989, she served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable C. Clyde Atkins in the U.S. District Court for the District of Miami. Judge Igoe is a member of the Florida Bar, New Jersey State Bar, and New York State Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Igoe were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2018 through 2023. During this period, court records show that Judge Igoe decided 156 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, she granted asylum for 93, granted 8 other types of relief, and denied relief to 55. Converted to percentage terms, Igoe denied 35.3 percent and granted 64.7 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Igoe's denial rate each fiscal year over this recent period. (Rates for years with less than 25 decisions are not shown.)

Nationwide Comparisons

Compared to Judge Igoe's denial rate of 35.3 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 60.6 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Hyattsville Immigration Court where Judge Igoe decided these cases denied asylum 28.7 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Igoe's asylum grant and denial rates are compared with other judges serving on the same court in this table. Note that when an Immigration Judge serves on more than one court during the same period, separate Immigration Judge reports are created for any Court in which the judge rendered at least 100 asylum decisions.

Why Do Denial Rates Vary Among Judges?

Although denial rates are shaped by each Judge's judicial philosophy, denial rates are also shaped by other factors, such as the types of cases on the Judge's docket, the detained status of immigrant respondents, current immigration policies, and other factors beyond an individual Judge's control. For example, TRAC has previously found that legal representation and the nationality of the asylum seeker are just two factors that appear to impact asylum decision outcomes.

The composition of cases may differ significantly between Immigration Courts in the country. Within a single Court when cases are randomly assigned to judges sitting on that Court, each Judge should have roughly a similar composition of cases given a sufficient number of asylum cases. Then variations in asylum decisions among Judges on the same Immigration Court would appear to reflect, at least in part, the judicial philosophy that the Judge brings to the bench. However, if judges within a Court are assigned to specialized dockets or hearing locations, then case compositions are likely to continue to differ and can contribute to differences in asylum denial rates.

Representation

When asylum seekers are not represented by an attorney, almost all of them (80%) are denied asylum. In contrast, a significantly higher proportion of represented asylum seekers are successful. In the case of Judge Igoe, 1.3% were not represented by an attorney. See Figure 3. For the nation as a whole, about 15.7% of asylum seekers are not represented.

Nationality

Asylum seekers are a diverse group. Over one hundred different nationalities had at least one hundred individuals claiming asylum decided during this period. As might be expected, immigration courts located in different parts of the country tend to have proportionately larger shares from some countries than from others. And, given the required legal grounds for a successful asylum claim, asylum seekers from some nations tend to be more successful than others.

The largest group of asylum seekers appearing before Judge Igoe came from El Salvador. Individuals from this country made up 39.1% of her caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Igoe were: Cameroon (14.1%), Ethiopia (10.3%), Guatemala (5.8%), Honduras (5.8%). See Figure 4.

In the nation as a whole during this same period, major nationalities of asylum seekers, in descending order of frequency, were El Salvador (16.6%), Guatemala (15.1%), Honduras (13.8%), Mexico (9.2%), China (6.8%), India (5.1%), Venezuela (3.2%), Ecuador (3.1%), Cuba (2.4%), Nicaragua (2.3%), Brazil (2.0%), Colombia (1.4%), Cameroon (1.4%).