Judge Michael Sady

FY 2018 - 2023, Boston Immigration Court

Published Oct 19, 2023

Michael P. Sady was appointed as an Immigration Judge to begin hearing cases in May 2022. Judge Sady earned a Bachelor of Science in 1984 from Northeastern University and a Juris Doctor in 1988 from Boston University School of Law. From 2002 to 2022, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) in the District of Massachusetts, Boston. From 1997 to 2002, he served as Senior Litigation Counsel with the Massachusetts Port Authority in Boston. From 1991 to 1997, he served as an Associate Litigation Attorney at Eckert, Seamans, Cherin & Mellott in Boston. From 1990 to 1991, he served as an Associate Litigation Attorney at Hutchins & Wheeler in Boston. From 1988 to 1990, he served as an Associate Litigation Attorney at Peabody & Arnold in Boston. Judge Sady is a member of the Massachusetts Bar, as well as the First and Second Circuit Courts of Appeal.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Sady were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2018 through 2023. During this period, court records show that Judge Sady decided 248 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 145, granted 1 other types of relief, and denied relief to 102. Converted to percentage terms, Sady denied 41.1 percent and granted 58.9 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Sady'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 Sady's denial rate of 41.1 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 60.6 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Boston Immigration Court where Judge Sady decided these cases denied asylum 49.1 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Sady'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 Sady, 0% 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 Sady came from Brazil. Individuals from this country made up 67.3% of his caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Sady were: Guatemala (12.1%), Honduras (6.5%), El Salvador (4.4%), Ecuador (3.2%). 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%).