Appointed August 2023 · President Joe Biden→ Attorney General Merrick Garland
3 years on the immigration bench
Appointed under a Democratic administration
Background
The Honorable Immigration Judge Kyra S. Lilien earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1996 from Smith College and a Juris Doctor in 2006 from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. She served as director of immigration legal services at Jewish Family & Community Services – East Bay (2021-2023), as a staff attorney at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (2016-2021), and as an asylum officer with USCIS at the San Francisco Asylum Office (2013-2016). Earlier she was immigration program director at Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland and an associate at Kirkland & Ellis LLP handling pro bono immigration cases. She is a member of the State Bar of California.
Caseload & process (since 2021)
317
Completions per year
1,586 total
1.3%
Detained at decision
share of cases
28 mo
Median time to decision
from case start
14.2%
Ordered removed in absentia
person absent
10.1%
Decisions appealed to BIA
appeal rate
—
Appeals remanded or reversed
only 11 appeals — too few
Grant rates by type of relief
Share granted among merits decisions for each application type, since 2021.
Asylum
68.7%
457 decisions High confidence
Withholding / CAT
5.8%
274 decisions High confidence
Cancellation — 42B (non-LPR)
0%⚠
1 decision Too few cases
Cancellation — 42A (LPR)
100%⚠
2 decisions Too few cases
Adjustment of status (245)
100%⚠
3 decisions Too few cases
Voluntary departure
91.7%⚠
12 decisions Too few cases
68.7%
of asylum claims granted on the merits High confidence
Based on 457 asylum decisions (grants + denials) since 2021.
This judge
68.7%
This court
57.1%
National average
31.8%
0%100% granted
In the top 8% 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 · 453 decisions since 2021
68.9%
Without a lawyer⚠unrepresented · 4 decisions since 2021
50%
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).