The Honorable Immigration Judge Joseph Y Park

San Francisco, CA Immigration Court
Appointed August 2017 · President Donald Trump Attorney General Jeff Sessions
9 years on the immigration bench
Appointed under a Republican administration

Background

The Honorable Immigration Judge Joseph Y Park earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1994 from Amherst College and a Juris Doctor in 2002 from the University of Washington School of Law. Entering federal service through the Attorney General's Honors Program, he held a series of positions in San Francisco with the legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service and later Immigration and Customs Enforcement, serving as assistant district counsel, assistant chief counsel, senior attorney, and deputy chief counsel between 2002 and 2017. He is a member of the California State Bar.

Caseload & process (since 2021)
854
Completions per year
5,122 total
1.4%
Detained at decision
share of cases
19.8 mo
Median time to decision
from case start
17.6%
Ordered removed in absentia
person absent
6.3%
Decisions appealed to BIA
appeal rate
11.9%
Appeals remanded or reversed
42 appeals decided

Grant rates by type of relief

Share granted among merits decisions for each application type, since 2021.
Asylum
60.1% 709 decisions High confidence
Withholding / CAT
5.3% 583 decisions High confidence
Cancellation — 42B (non-LPR)
28.6% 7 decisions Too few cases
Cancellation — 42A (LPR)
0% 1 decision Too few cases
Adjustment of status (245)
100% 3 decisions Too few cases
Voluntary departure
100% 19 decisions Too few cases
60.1%
of asylum claims granted on the merits High confidence
Based on 709 asylum decisions (grants + denials) since 2021.
This judge
60.1%
This court
68.2%
National average
31.8%
0%100% granted
In the top 12% 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 · 681 decisions since 2021
62%
Without a lawyerunrepresented · 28 decisions since 2021
14.3%

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.
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%2015: 0% of 1 decisions0%20152017: 0% of 15 decisions0%20172018: 9.4% of 64 decisions9.4%20182019: 13.2% of 91 decisions13.2%20192020: 27.6% of 105 decisions27.6%20202021: 71.4% of 126 decisions71.4%20212022: 69.2% of 172 decisions69.2%20222023: 69.6% of 168 decisions69.6%20232024: 66.3% of 104 decisions66.3%20242025: 22.3% of 139 decisions22.3%2025

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).
San Francisco, CA · home court
5,040 (98%)
7 (0.14%)
7 (0.14%)
5 (0.10%)
4 (0.08%)
4 (0.08%)