Immigration judge Craig M. Zerbe

Name: EOIR case outcomes for immigration judge Craig M. Zerbe
Creator: U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review
License: https://www.usa.gov/government-copyright

EOIR records Craig M. Zerbe as a serving immigration judge, code CMZ, with 3,376 proceedings completed in the five fiscal years to 2015. Of the 306 asylum applications this judge decided in FY2011–2014, 131 were granted (42.8%) and 175 denied.

What these figures are, and what they are not

None of this measures how this judge decides. Represented and unrepresented applicants have very different outcomes and a judge’s mix of the two is not the judge’s doing; so is the share of their docket that is detained, and detention courts grant asylum at a fraction of the rate other courts do. EOIR publishes representation in a table this site has not loaded, and nothing here adjusts for either.

A grant rate is over decisions, not over applications. Applications that were abandoned, withdrawn, administratively closed, transferred or not adjudicated are counted separately below and are in neither side of the rate. Across EOIR’s whole file there are more of those than there are grants and denials together.

Proceedings, not people, and a case can carry several. The figures below count proceedings and asylum applications, which are both larger than the number of people involved. Pending is a snapshot as of September 1, 2026 and moves every month.

Cases, decisions and backlog

3,376
Proceedings completed, FY2011–2015: 27.3% decided in absentia; 0
Proceedings pending as of September 2026: 42.8%
Asylum grant rate, FY2011–2014: 131 granted of 306 decided

Context, over the same fiscal years (FY2011–2014)

Every immigration court in the country: 52.4% granted; 44,420 of 84,796 asylum applications decided
The Chicago, IL court, where EOIR records this judge completing the most proceedings: 45.1% granted; 870 of 1,927 asylum applications decided

For the reader to weigh, not a measure of this judge: everything in the box above applies to these rates as well, and a court’s docket is not any one judge’s.

Over the 4 fiscal years from 2011 to 2014, this judge granted 131 asylum applications and denied 175 — 42.8% of those decided. A further 236 ended neither way and are in neither figure.

By fiscal year

Immigration judge Craig M. Zerbe completed 7 proceedings in FY2015, against 923 in FY2006

Proceedings EOIR records this judge completing, by federal fiscal year. A year with no column is a year in which EOIR records no proceeding completed by this judge.

U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review — EOIR immigration court outcomes by judge, court and fiscal year

The figures behind this chart

Immigration judge Craig M. Zerbe completed 7 proceedings in FY2015, against 923 in FY2006. Proceedings EOIR records this judge completing, by federal fiscal year. A year with no column is a year in which EOIR records no proceeding completed by this judge.
Fiscal year	Completed	In absentia	Asylum granted	Asylum denied	Neither
FY2015	7	0	0	0	2
FY2014	229	3	20	18	28
FY2013	1,059	298	41	47	78
FY2012	941	209	37	53	70
FY2011	1,140	411	33	57	58
FY2010	1,383	419	40	41	67
FY2009	1,042	160	61	38	98
FY2008	1,563	185	76	47	103
FY2007	1,137	151	75	57	90
FY2006	923	202	74	46	84

Complete fiscal years only. A proceeding is counted in the year it completed, which is not the year it was recorded, so this table is not a record of what arrived.

Where the proceedings were

Immigration courts where Craig M. Zerbe completed proceedings
Court	Proceedings completed
Chicago, IL (CHI)	22,092
Omaha, NE (OMA)	3,019
Kansas City, MO (KAN)	2,615
Detroit, MI (DET)	1,011
Newark, NJ (NEW)	275
Memphis, TN (MEM)	248
Harlingen, TX (HLG)	118
Miami, FL (MIA)	89
Tucson, AZ (TUC)	48
Los Fresnos, TX (PIS)	46
Elizabeth, NJ (ELZ)	25
Philadelphia, PA (PHI)	14
San Antonio, TX (SNA)	4
Pearsall, TX (PSD)	3
Imperial, CA (IMP)	2
Fort Snelling, MN (BLM)	1
Honolulu, HI (HON)	1

The courts where EOIR records this judge completing proceedings, which is not the same as the courts they are assigned to: a judge is assigned to a median of three at once and as many as 72, and an assignment is not a posting.

Sources

EOIR immigration court outcomes by judge, court and fiscal year — U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review · retrieved September 1, 2026
EOIR immigration judges and courts

Data retrieved September 1, 2026