The Honorable Immigration Judge Denise A Hinds Roach
Newark, NJ Immigration Court
Appointed June 2020 · President Donald Trump→ Attorney General William P. Barr
6 years on the immigration bench
Appointed under a Republican administration
Background
The Honorable Immigration Judge Denise A Hinds Roach earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1982 from Duquesne University and a Juris Doctor in 1986 from Duquesne University School of Law. From 1994 to 2012 she served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands in St. Croix, including a period as deputy criminal chief, and from 2012 to 2019 she served as a family court judge in St. Croix, also sitting by designation on the U.S. Virgin Islands Supreme Court. Earlier she served as an assistant attorney general for the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Justice and as an assistant solicitor with the Fulton County Solicitor's Office in Atlanta. She is a member of the Georgia State Bar, Pennsylvania State Bar, and U.S. Virgin Islands Bar.
Caseload & process (since 2021)
334
Completions per year
1,335 total
3.2%
Detained at decision
share of cases
44.7 mo
Median time to decision
from case start
15%
Ordered removed in absentia
person absent
10.4%
Decisions appealed to BIA
appeal rate
12.5%
Appeals remanded or reversed
40 appeals decided
Grant rates by type of relief
Share granted among merits decisions for each application type, since 2021.
Asylum
23.5%
162 decisions Moderate
Withholding / CAT
2.4%
208 decisions High confidence
Cancellation — 42B (non-LPR)
0%⚠
34 decisions Too few cases
Cancellation — 42A (LPR)
100%⚠
1 decision Too few cases
Adjustment of status (245)
75%⚠
20 decisions Too few cases
Voluntary departure
100%⚠
9 decisions Too few cases
23.5%
of asylum claims granted on the merits Moderate
Based on 162 asylum decisions (grants + denials) since 2021.
This judge
23.5%
This court
19.9%
National average
31.8%
0%100% granted
In the bottom 46% of the 825 judges nationally with enough cases to compare.
Does a lawyer matter here?
Asylum grant rate by whether the person had legal representation.
With a lawyerrepresented · 159 decisions since 2021
23.9%
Without a lawyer⚠unrepresented · 3 decisions since 2021
0%
Asylum grant rate over time
Each point is that calendar year's grant rate, back to 2015 where the judge was deciding cases — the longer career view. Dashed grey line = current national average (31.8%). Headline rates above use 2021 – today.
Courts where this judge has decided cases
Hearing locations for cases this judge completed since 2021, by number of decisions.
Many judges hear cases from more than one court (detained facilities, video dockets, or reassignments).