Asylum approvals are rare in Dallas-Fort Worth immigration courts
Dallas-Fort Worth immigration judges granted asylum relief to just a handful of applicants in February, reflecting a nationwide trend of denying asylum seekers protection from deportation.
According to the latest data, which comes from Mobile Pathways, a technology company that provides insights into immigration decisions, only 1% of asylum petitions heard in the Dallas Immigration Court and the Fort Worth Immigration Adjudication Center in February were approved. That amounted to seven individuals being granted asylum out of more than 1,200 applicants.
In total, 231 petitions were denied, 232 were withdrawn, two were administratively closed and 740 were abandoned. Abandonment can happen when an applicant misses an appointment or filing deadline, fails to provide ample documentation supporting their claim or simply leaves the country before their claim is processed, among other things.
Nationwide, asylum status was granted to 497 petitioners in February out of 18,913 applications, a 2% success rate.
Why is asylum denial rate so high?
Fatma Marouf, an immigration attorney who teaches at the Texas A&M School of Law in Fort Worth, said judges are under heavy political pressure to deny asylum petitions.
Last year, the Trump administration fired nearly 100 judges who were seen as being too liberal when it came to immigration. Six more judges were fired last week, according to a New York Times report, including two who halted deportation proceedings against two international college students who had expressed support for Palestine. Both judges were nearing the end of a probationary period, the Times report said.
Even before the recent political changes, Dallas-Fort Worth judges were less likely to grant relief in asylum cases. Going back to January 2021, local judges have sided with petitioners in only 6% of cases. During that same period, judges across the country granted relief to 20% of applicants.
Relief is only granted in asylum cases under very specific circumstances, said Marouf. Petitioners must prove they are at risk of persecution in their home countries on the basis of race or ethnicity, religion, nationality, political views or because they belong to a particular social group.
But attorney Emily Heger, director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at the Texas A&M School of Law, said it’s often an uphill battle to prove an asylum seeker fits into one of those protected categories. That’s especially true for women coming from countries where they have fewer rights than men or face violence, Heger said.
Heger has represented women fleeing abusive relationships and seeking asylum in the U.S., but those claims, by and large, are denied, she said. Last year, the Board of Immigration Appeals ruled that gender alone, or gender plus nationality, isn’t enough to warrant asylum relief.
Marouf said fear of generalized violence, or political or social upheaval at home, is also not a strong enough argument for asylum in most cases.
For instance, a Mexican national seeking asylum for fear of violence back home stands little chance of relief. But even when an asylum petition does appear to meet legal standards, judges have a great deal of discretion when deciding whether to approve or deny the request, said Marouf and Heger.
In one example, Heger and the students in the Immigrant Rights Clinic represented a Venezuelan man who had for decades been an advocate for democracy in his home country. He was denied asylum in the U.S. and was set to be deported to Ecuador, which has an Asylum Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. as a “safe” third-party country for asylum seekers.
But Heger said the irony is Ecuador is unfriendly toward Venezuelans. She cited reports of Venezuelans being denied employment, housing and health care in that country. Heger said those reports were corroborated by an Ecuadorian immigration attorney. Nevertheless, a federal judge denied the asylum seeker’s petition because he’d never been to Ecuador and thus couldn’t prove he was likely to be harmed, despite U.S. laws that say a person does not have to have personally experienced persecution to be granted asylum.
Judges in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which presides over cases in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, are more likely to deny asylum requests than judges in other parts of the country, said Marouf. She said the discrepancy in approval rates is because judges bring their own political views and other convictions into the courtroom, which influence their decisions.
When asked about the high number of abandoned asylum petitions, Marouf said it could be that applicants who are held in immigration detention centers might decide it’s better to self deport than remain incarcerated while awaiting an asylum decision.
‘It’s hard to articulate how dire it is’
Heger said the vast majority of asylum seekers don’t have legal representation. Because of that, many are unequipped to adequately plead their case and fight for due process.
One of Heger’s clients, a Congolese national, was granted an asylum hearing that was scheduled for 2029. Despite that, the man was arrested during a routine Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-in appointment and sent to a detention center. The reason he was given for his arrest, Heger said, was that his hearing was too far out.
While in detention, Heger’s client received notice of a merit hearing 30 minutes before it was due to start. During the virtual hearing, the judge told the petitioner that he’d already decided to deny his asylum request, Heger said.
“The judge acted that way because he could,” said Heger. “He didn’t think our client would find representation and appeal.”
Heger said the need for representation exceeds the number of attorneys who are able to help. Texas A&M’s Immigrant Rights Clinic, which offers pro bono representation, isn’t accepting new clients because the students and Heger are at capacity.
And many attorneys who say they have expertise in immigration law are unable to navigate the changing landscape of asylum claims, Heger said.
“It’s hard to articulate how dire it is,” Heger said of the lack of qualified representation.
This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 1:56 PM.