Judge Sarah Hartnett
FY 2021 - 2026*, Houston Immigration Court
*data covers the first 9 months of fiscal year 2026
Published Aug 27, 2026
Sarah L. Hartnett was appointed as an Immigration Judge to begin hearing cases in December 2021. Judge Hartnett earned a Bachelor of Science in 1995 from Sul Ross State University and a Juris Doctor in 2000 from St. Mary’s University School of Law. From 2014 to 2021, she served as Chief Counsel, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in Houston. From 2012 to 2014, she served as Deputy Director of Field Legal Operations, OPLA, ICE, DHS, in the District of Columbia. From 2009 to 2012, she served as Deputy Chief for the Enforcement Law Division and Section Chief for the Enforcement Law Section, OPLA, ICE, DHS, in the District of Columbia. While Section Chief, she served as a detailed Trial Attorney for the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section, Criminal Division, Department of Justice (DOJ). From 2002 to 2009, she served as an Assistant Chief Counsel (ACC), OPLA, ICE, DHS, in Phoenix. While an ACC, she served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona. In 2001, she served as an Assistant District Attorney, District Attorney’s Office, 34th Judicial District, El Paso, Texas. From 2000 to 2001, she served as a Judicial Law Clerk, then Attorney Advisor, at the Dallas Immigration Court, Executive Office for Immigration Review, DOJ. Judge Hartnett is a member of the State Bar of Texas.
Deciding Asylum Cases
Detailed data on decisions by Judge Hartnett were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2021 through the first 9 months of 2026. During this period, court records show that Judge Hartnett decided 100 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, she granted asylum for 46, granted 5 other types of relief, and denied relief to 49. Converted to percentage terms, Hartnett denied 49.0 percent and granted 51.0 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).
Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Hartnett'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 Hartnett's denial rate of 49.0 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 62.9 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Houston Immigration Court where Judge Hartnett decided these cases denied asylum 86.1 percent of the time. See Figure 2.
Judge Hartnett'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 Hartnett, 6% 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 Hartnett came from Venezuela. Individuals from this country made up 31.0% of her caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Hartnett were: Nicaragua (23.0%), Honduras (13.0%), Cuba (10.0%), Colombia (7.0%). 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%).
