Immigration judge Howard Van Winkle

EOIR records Howard Van Winkle as a former immigration judge, code HVW, with 10,972 proceedings completed in the five fiscal years to 2005. Of the 105 asylum applications this judge decided in FY2001–2004, 23 were granted (21.9%) and 82 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 Applications that were abandoned, withdrawn, administratively closed, transferred or not adjudicated are counted separately below and are in neither side of the rate.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

10,972
Proceedings completed, FY2001–2005: 32.7% decided in absentia; 0
Proceedings pending as of September 2026: 21.9%
Asylum grant rate, FY2001–2004: 23 granted of 105 decided

Context, over the same fiscal years (FY2001–2004)

Every immigration court in the country: 38.2% granted; 47,394 of 124,092 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 2001 to 2004, this judge granted 23 asylum applications and denied 82 — 21.9% of those decided. A further 45 ended neither way and are in neither figure.

By fiscal year

2 more columns on a wider screen

What EOIR records for immigration judge Howard Van Winkle, by federal fiscal year
Fiscal year	Completed	In absentia	Asylum granted	Asylum denied	Neither
FY2005	1,570	1,350	0	0	2
FY2004	3,482	1,760	5	8	15
FY2003	3,030	21	1	11	7
FY2002	1,561	453	3	24	7
FY2001	1,329	0	14	39	14
FY2000	368	25	7	62	71
FY1999	956	58	5	25	25
FY1998	2,653	1	0	14	4
FY1997	1,364	38	8	37	43
FY1996	0	0	0	0	0

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 Howard Van Winkle completed proceedings
Court	Proceedings completed
San Antonio, TX (SNA)	8,352
Adelanto, CA (ADL)	4,209
Conroe, TX (CIC)	2,202
Laredo, TX (LRO)	618
Los Angeles, CA (WLA)	533
Houston, TX (HOU)	392
San Francisco, CA (SFR)	12
Atlanta, GA (ATL)	3
Atlanta, GA (ATD)	2

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