Immigration judge Paul Defonzo
EOIR records Paul Defonzo as a serving immigration judge, code PDF, with 3,412 proceedings completed in the five fiscal years to 2019. Of the 679 asylum applications this judge decided in FY2015–2019, 315 were granted (46.4%) and 364 denied. Over the same years, the grant rate was 32.0% at the Seattle, WA court, where EOIR records this judge completing the most proceedings, and 35.8% across every immigration court in the country.
Cases, decisions and backlog
- 3,412
- Proceedings completed, FY2015–2019
- 20.1% decided in absentia
- 1
- Proceedings pending as of September 2026
- 46.4%
- Asylum grant rate, FY2015–2019
- 315 granted of 679 decided
Context, over the same fiscal years (FY2015–2019)
- Every immigration court in the country
- 35.8% granted
- 65,910 of 184,010 asylum applications decided
- The Seattle, WA court, where EOIR records this judge completing the most proceedings
- 32.0% granted
- 1,166 of 3,645 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 5 fiscal years from 2015 to 2019, this judge granted 315 asylum applications and denied 364 — 46.4% of those decided. A further 556 ended neither way and are in neither figure.
By fiscal year
Immigration judge Paul Defonzo completed 174 proceedings in FY2019, against 892 in FY2010
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
| Fiscal year | Completed | In absentia | Asylum granted | Asylum denied | Neither |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2019 | 174 | 42 | 13 | 46 | 23 |
| FY2018 | 692 | 163 | 89 | 101 | 138 |
| FY2017 | 725 | 126 | 63 | 93 | 119 |
| FY2016 | 830 | 138 | 83 | 62 | 153 |
| FY2015 | 991 | 216 | 67 | 62 | 123 |
| FY2014 | 1,292 | 167 | 46 | 53 | 188 |
| FY2013 | 894 | 91 | 57 | 68 | 130 |
| FY2012 | 835 | 85 | 28 | 46 | 96 |
| FY2011 | 857 | 119 | 35 | 58 | 66 |
| FY2010 | 892 | 134 | 39 | 45 | 59 |
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
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