Sterling, VA immigration court

The Executive Office for Immigration Review records 23,116 proceedings completed at this court in FY2025, with 152 judges currently assigned of 160 assigned at any time. It sits in EOIR’s Eastern region and EOIR marks it active. EOIR’s own code for it is STE.

What these figures are, and what they are not

A grant rate is over decisions, not over applications. Across EOIR’s whole file, 1,947,620 asylum applications ended neither granted nor denied — abandoned, withdrawn, administratively closed, transferred, not adjudicated — against 1,370,866 granted or denied. This page states that third number beside the rate, because a rate that hides it describes a third of the record.

Pending is a snapshot and not a year’s work. It counts proceedings with no completion date as of the release named below, put in the fiscal year EOIR recorded them. It moves every month, for every past year. And the figures for what a court recorded and what it completed are two different populations in the same row: a proceeding recorded in 2019 and completed in 2024 is in both years and is one proceeding.

And an assignment is not a posting. A judge is assigned to a median of three courts at once and as many as 72, and the largest rosters here belong to detention courts whose cases are heard substantially by judges sitting elsewhere. The roster below is the assignments EOIR publishes and says nothing about where any judge is on any day.

Cases, decisions and backlog

23,116
Proceedings completed in FY2025: 33.5% decided in absentia; 18,655
Proceedings pending as of September 2026: oldest recorded in FY2005; 35.3%
Asylum grant rate, FY2021–2025: 2,811 granted of 7,969 decided

Over the 5 fiscal years from 2021 to 2025, this court granted 2,811 asylum applications and denied 5,158 — 35.3% of those it decided, against 37.3% across the country over the five years to 2025. A further 17,144 ended neither way and are in neither figure.

New York · 73.3%Miami · 4.1%

Sterling is 24 of 74 by asylum grant rate, at 35.3%. Highest on the left.

The 74 figures behind this strip

Every jurisdiction by asylum grant rate, highest first, with Sterling marked
Rank	Name	Asylum grant rate
1	New York	73.3%
2	Sacramento	72.8%
3	San Francisco	70.9%
4	West Valley	62.9%
5	Las Vegas	62.1%
6	Honolulu	60.1%
7	Concord	52.3%
8	Chelmsford	51.5%
9	Chicago	51.2%
10	Guaynabo	50.0%
11	Van Nuys	49.3%
12	Imperial	48.7%
13	Hyattsville	48.3%
14	Baltimore	47.9%
15	Boston	47.1%
16	Annandale	44.8%
17	Los Angeles	42.7%
18	San Diego	42.0%
19	New York	41.5%
20	Philadelphia	40.4%
21	New York	38.1%
22	Chelmsford	36.2%
23	Denver	36.1%
24	Sterling	35.3%
25	Hagatna	34.1%
26	Portland	33.9%
27	San Antonio	33.7%
28	Detroit	33.5%
29	Buffalo	33.1%
30	Hartford	31.2%
31	New Orleans	29.7%
32	Harlingen	29.6%
33	Otay Mesa	29.1%
34	Santa Ana	28.5%
35	Orlando	27.7%
36	Seattle	27.4%
37	Los Angeles	27.1%
38	Memphis	26.6%
39	Otero	26.5%
40	El Paso	25.8%
41	Newark	25.7%
42	Eloy	24.1%
43	Tucson	23.8%
44	Annandale	22.1%
45	Fort Snelling	21.2%
46	Miami	20.5%
47	Cleveland	19.8%
48	Aurora	19.6%
49	Dallas	19.2%
50	Indianapolis	19.2%
51	Tacoma	19.2%
52	Laredo	18.8%
53	Portland	18.6%
54	Phoenix	17.3%
55	Kansas City	16.5%
56	Jena	15.7%
57	Oakdale	14.5%
58	Lumpkin	13.4%
59	Houston	13.1%
60	Atlanta	12.9%
61	El Paso	12.5%
62	Atlanta	12.3%
63	Florence	12.0%
64	Charlotte	11.8%
65	Pearsall	10.2%
66	Los Fresnos	10.0%
67	Elizabeth	9.3%
68	Houston	8.7%
69	Conroe	8.0%
70	Houston	7.6%
71	Los Fresnos	6.8%
72	Adelanto	6.5%
73	Omaha	5.3%
74	Miami	4.1%

Sterling completed 10,810 more proceedings than it recorded in FY2025

Proceedings EOIR recorded at the Sterling immigration court against proceedings that completed there, by federal fiscal year. The two are different populations: a proceeding recorded in one year and completed in another is counted in both and is one proceeding. Complete fiscal years only.

Recorded is the date EOIR entered the proceeding in its system, which is not the date the charging document was issued. The gap between the two lines in a year is not the change in the backlog, because a proceeding completed this year may have been recorded in any earlier one.

U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review — EOIR immigration court outcomes

The figures behind this chart

Sterling completed 10,810 more proceedings than it recorded in FY2025. Proceedings EOIR recorded at the Sterling immigration court against proceedings that completed there, by federal fiscal year. The two are different populations: a proceeding recorded in one year and completed in another is counted in both and is one proceeding. Complete fiscal years only.
Fiscal year	Recorded	Completed	Asylum granted	Asylum denied
FY2025	12,306	23,116	1,160	3,588
FY2024	23,363	29,413	969	1,006
FY2023	19,212	12,121	680	561
FY2022	8,901	175	1	3
FY2021	3,364	28	1	0
FY2020	6,736	7	0	3
FY2019	5,976	3	0	0
FY2018	3,106	2	0	0
FY2017	2,901	0	0	0
FY2016	1,829	0	0	0
FY2015	749	1	0	0
FY2014	973	0	0	0
FY2013	432	0	0	0
FY2012	181	0	0	0
FY2011	72	0	0	0
FY2010	41	0	0	0
FY2009	14	0	0	0
FY2008	2	0	0	0

2 more columns on a wider screen

What the Sterling immigration court recorded, completed and decided, by federal fiscal year
Fiscal year	Recorded	Completed	In absentia	Asylum granted	Asylum denied	Neither
FY2025	12,306	23,116	7,749	1,160	3,588	5,058
FY2024	23,363	29,413	8,640	969	1,006	7,902
FY2023	19,212	12,121	2,507	680	561	4,143
FY2022	8,901	175	15	1	3	35
FY2021	3,364	28	0	1	0	6
FY2020	6,736	7	1	0	3	0
FY2019	5,976	3	0	0	0	1
FY2018	3,106	2	0	0	0	0
FY2017	2,901	0	0	0	0	0
FY2016	1,829	0	0	0	0	0

Recorded and completed are different populations in the same row and must not be added. Complete fiscal years only: FY2026 had not ended when EOIR generated this release, and a part year beside whole ones reads as a collapse. The pending figure above does reach into FY2026, because a backlog is what is waiting now rather than what was waiting last September: 5,784 of 18,655 arrived in a year this table does not show.

What EOIR records

152
Judges currently assigned: 95.0% of all assignments; 160
Judges assigned at any time: 8 no longer assigned

The judges EOIR assigns here

Names as EOIR records them, surname first. A name links to what EOIR records that judge deciding; a judge with no completed proceeding has no page and no link. 8 further judges have been assigned to this court and are not listed, because EOIR no longer records the assignment.

Other courts

Annandale, VA
WAS · 151 judges currently assigned
Annandale, VA
ANN · 175 judges currently assigned
Falls Church, VA
FCI · 19 judges currently assigned
Richmond, VA
RIC · 24 judges currently assigned

Also: every court by asylum grant rate, by proceedings pending, and the immigration hub.

Sources

EOIR immigration judges and courts — U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review · Public domain — U.S. Government work · retrieved September 21, 2026
EOIR immigration court outcomes by judge, court and fiscal year · retrieved September 22, 2026

Data retrieved September 21, 2026