The Honorable Immigration Judge Rebecca Niburg

Hyattsville, MD Immigration Court
Appointed October 2022 · President Joe Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland
3 years on the immigration bench
Appointed under a Democratic administration

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Background

The Honorable Immigration Judge Rebecca Niburg earned a Bachelor of Arts in 2000 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Juris Doctor and Master of Arts in European Studies in 2003 from Washington University in St. Louis. Before her appointment, she founded and led Elpis Legal LLC and served as managing attorney at the Esperanza Center (2020-2022), worked with Kids in Need of Defense (2018-2020) and the Greene Law Firm (2017-2018), and earlier served as a supervisory immigration services officer and appeals officer with USCIS (2008-2017) and as a trial attorney with the Office of Immigration Litigation (2006-2008).

Caseload & process (since 2021)
768
Completions per year
4,609 total
3.4%
Detained at decision
share of cases
18.2 mo
Median time to decision
from case start
22.3%
Ordered removed in absentia
person absent
11.3%
Decisions appealed to BIA
appeal rate
9.7%
Appeals remanded or reversed
31 appeals decided

Bond decisions

Custody redetermination (bond) rulings since 2021. "Granted" means the judge lowered the bond, ordered release on recognizance, or otherwise granted the request.
0%
Bond requests granted
1 bond decision Too few cases
Median bond when set
Released on own recognizance
This judge 0%
Court average 25.5% · median $10,500
National 41.9% · median $6,500

Grant rates by type of relief

Share granted among merits decisions for each application type, since 2021.
Asylum
42.9% 836 decisions High confidence
Withholding / CAT
17% 931 decisions High confidence
Cancellation — 42B (non-LPR)
0% 29 decisions Too few cases
Cancellation — 42A (LPR)
100% 2 decisions Too few cases
Adjustment of status (245)
91.7% 12 decisions Too few cases
Voluntary departure
100% 114 decisions Moderate
42.9%
of asylum claims granted on the merits High confidence
Based on 836 asylum decisions (grants + denials) since 2021.
This judge
42.9%
This court
42%
National average
31.8%
0%100% granted
In the top 27% 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 · 732 decisions since 2021
44.1%
Without a lawyerunrepresented · 104 decisions since 2021
34.6%

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%2019: 100% of 2 decisions100%20192022: 86.4% of 22 decisions86.4%20222023: 65.7% of 236 decisions65.7%20232024: 58.4% of 161 decisions58.4%20242025: 23.8% of 328 decisions23.8%20252026 (partial year): 14.6% of 89 decisions14.6%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).
Hyattsville, MD · home court
4,410 (96%)
101 (2.2%)
21 (0.46%)
11 (0.24%)
9 (0.20%)
8 (0.17%)