Judge Lori Yokoyama

FY 2021 - 2026*, Chicago Immigration Court

*data covers the first 9 months of fiscal year 2026

Published Aug 27, 2026

Lori S. Yokoyama was appointed as an Immigration Judge to begin hearing cases in December 2022. Judge Yokoyama earned a Bachelor of Science in 1977 from Northeastern Illinois University, a Juris Doctor in 1980 from DePaul University, College of Law, a Master of Business Management in 1994 from J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University. From 2000 to 2022, she was the founding and managing partner at Yokoyama & Associates, P.C. where she represented individuals in immigration cases. From 2012 to 2019, she was co-managing partner at Sanchez, Daniels, Yokoyama, Hastie, and Greene, and from 1988 to 2000, she was a partner at Sanchez and Daniels. From 1981 to 1988, she was an associate at Hinshaw, Culbertson, Moelmann, Hoban & Fuller. Judge Yokoyama is a member of the Illinois State Bar and the State Bar of Texas.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Yokoyama were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2021 through the first 9 months of 2026. During this period, court records show that Judge Yokoyama decided 123 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, she granted asylum for 14, granted 38 other types of relief, and denied relief to 71. Converted to percentage terms, Yokoyama denied 57.7 percent and granted 42.3 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Yokoyama'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 Yokoyama's denial rate of 57.7 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 62.9 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Chicago Immigration Court where Judge Yokoyama decided these cases denied asylum 49 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Yokoyama'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 Yokoyama, 26% 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 Yokoyama came from Nicaragua. Individuals from this country made up 13.0% of her caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Yokoyama were: India (11.4%), Venezuela (10.6%), Mexico (9.8%), Russia (8.9%). 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%).