The Honorable Immigration Judge Kristin Piepmeier

Santa Ana, CA Immigration Court
Appointed March 2020 · President Donald Trump Attorney General William P. Barr
6 years on the immigration bench
Appointed under a Republican administration

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Background

The Honorable Immigration Judge Kristin Piepmeier earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1995 from the University of California, Los Angeles, a Juris Doctor in 2000 from Whittier Law School, and a Master of Laws in 2009 from Loyola Law School. Before her appointment, she served as an attorney with the Office of Chief Counsel at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (2002-2019), and earlier as an attorney advisor with the Department of Labor (2000-2002).

Caseload & process (since 2021)
1,127
Completions per year
6,761 total
0.7%
Detained at decision
share of cases
15 mo
Median time to decision
from case start
25.5%
Ordered removed in absentia
person absent
16.6%
Decisions appealed to BIA
appeal rate
4.4%
Appeals remanded or reversed
270 appeals decided

Grant rates by type of relief

Share granted among merits decisions for each application type, since 2021.
Asylum
10% 1,312 decisions High confidence
Withholding / CAT
0.9% 2,054 decisions High confidence
Cancellation — 42B (non-LPR)
16.7% 18 decisions Too few cases
Cancellation — 42A (LPR)
100% 2 decisions Too few cases
Adjustment of status (245)
100% 7 decisions Too few cases
Voluntary departure
100% 54 decisions Moderate
10%
of asylum claims granted on the merits High confidence
Based on 1,312 asylum decisions (grants + denials) since 2021.
This judge
10%
This court
19.1%
National average
31.8%
0%100% granted
In the bottom 19% 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 · 1,233 decisions since 2021
10.6%
Without a lawyerunrepresented · 79 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.
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%2017: 0% of 1 decisions0%20172018: 0% of 1 decisions0%20182019: 0% of 1 decisions0%20192020: 1.1% of 89 decisions1.1%20202021: 4.7% of 191 decisions4.7%20212022: 18.8% of 288 decisions18.8%20222023: 29.8% of 84 decisions29.8%20232024: 18.2% of 159 decisions18.2%20242025: 4.9% of 243 decisions4.9%20252026 (partial year): 0.6% of 347 decisions0.6%2026*
* 2026 is a partial year (data through 06/01/2026) and is incomplete.

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).
Santa Ana, CA · home court
4,167 (62%)
2,521 (37%)
9 (0.13%)
9 (0.13%)
5 (0.07%)