Judge Ubaid Ul-Haq

FY 2021 - 2026*, New York - Det Immigration Court

*data covers the first 9 months of fiscal year 2026

Published Aug 27, 2026

Attorney General Barr appointed Ubaid ul-Haq to begin hearing cases in January 2020. Judge Haq earned a Bachelor of Arts in 2005 from the University of Virginia, a Juris Doctor in 2010 from Nova Southeastern University, and a Master of Laws in 2011 from American University Washington College of Law. In 2019, he served as a trial attorney with the Office of Immigration Litigation’s (OIL) Appellate Court Section, Civil Division, Department of Justice (DOJ), in the District of Columbia. From 2014 to 2019, he served as a trial attorney with OIL’s District Court Section, Civil Division, DOJ. Since 2016, he has also served as a judge advocate with the U.S. Army Reserve, in Alexandria, Virginia. In 2014, he served as an associate legal advisor, Executive Communications Unit, Office of Chief Counsel (OCC), Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in the District of Columbia. From 2011 to 2014, he served as an assistant chief counsel, OPLA-San Antonio, ICE, DHS, in Pearsall, Texas. Judge Haq is a member of the Florida State Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Ul-Haq were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2021 through the first 9 months of 2026. During this period, court records show that Judge Ul-Haq decided 107 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, he granted asylum for 18, granted 2 other types of relief, and denied relief to 87. Converted to percentage terms, Ul-Haq denied 81.3 percent and granted 18.7 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Ul-Haq's denial rate each fiscal year over this recent period. (Rates for years with less than 25 decisions are not shown.)

Nationwide Comparisons

Compared to Judge Ul-Haq's denial rate of 81.3 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 62.9 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the New York - Det Immigration Court where Judge Ul-Haq decided these cases denied asylum 60.9 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Ul-Haq's asylum grant and denial rates are compared with other judges serving on the same court in this table. Note that when an Immigration Judge serves on more than one court during the same period, separate Immigration Judge reports are created for any Court in which the judge rendered at least 100 asylum decisions.

Why Do Denial Rates Vary Among Judges?

Although denial rates are shaped by each Judge's judicial philosophy, denial rates are also shaped by other factors, such as the types of cases on the Judge's docket, the detained status of immigrant respondents, current immigration policies, and other factors beyond an individual Judge's control. For example, TRAC has previously found that legal representation and the nationality of the asylum seeker are just two factors that appear to impact asylum decision outcomes.

The composition of cases may differ significantly between Immigration Courts in the country. Within a single Court when cases are randomly assigned to judges sitting on that Court, each Judge should have roughly a similar composition of cases given a sufficient number of asylum cases. Then variations in asylum decisions among Judges on the same Immigration Court would appear to reflect, at least in part, the judicial philosophy that the Judge brings to the bench. However, if judges within a Court are assigned to specialized dockets or hearing locations, then case compositions are likely to continue to differ and can contribute to differences in asylum denial rates.

Representation

When asylum seekers are not represented by an attorney, almost all of them (74%) are denied asylum. In contrast, a significantly higher proportion of represented asylum seekers are successful. In the case of Judge Ul-Haq, 9.3% were not represented by an attorney. See Figure 3. For the nation as a whole, about 18.8% of asylum seekers are not represented.

Nationality

Asylum seekers are a diverse group. Over one hundred different nationalities had at least one hundred individuals claiming asylum decided during this period. As might be expected, immigration courts located in different parts of the country tend to have proportionately larger shares from some countries than from others. And, given the required legal grounds for a successful asylum claim, asylum seekers from some nations tend to be more successful than others.

The largest group of asylum seekers appearing before Judge Ul-Haq came from . Individuals from this country made up . of his caseload. See Figure 4.

In the nation as a whole during this same period, major nationalities of asylum seekers, in descending order of frequency, were Honduras (10.1%), Guatemala (9.4%), Mexico (9.1%), El Salvador (8.7%), Venezuela (6.8%), Colombia (5.6%), Ecuador (5.3%), Nicaragua (4.8%), India (4.7%), China (4.7%), Russia (3.3%), Brazil (3.2%), Peru (2.9%).