New York · est. 2013Thursday, September 24, 2026
Inside Immigration

Plain-language guides to US immigration, asylum and USCIS procedure.

Immigration judges

Anwer A. Khan

Immigration Judge, Houston Immigration Court. Appointed March 2019 by Matthew Whitaker.

StrictDenies far more often than the national average+26.0 points

Asylum record, FY 2021-2026

TRAC source →
Judge Khan88.9%
Houston court86.1%
All judges nationally62.9%
Decisions on the merits
997
Asylum granted
76
Other relief granted
35
Denied
886
Against own court
+2.8 pts
Denial rate by fiscal year
FY22FY23FY24FY25FY26
84%84%69%91%95%

Read from TRAC's chart to the nearest point. Years with fewer than 25 decisions are not shown.

Docket

Respondents represented by counsel: 79% (nationally, 81% are represented).

Most common nationalities: Honduras (27.2%), El Salvador (17.7%), Mexico (14.4%), Guatemala (12.5%), Venezuela (9.2%).

Official biography

Then-Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker appointed Anwer A. Khan to begin hearing cases in March 2019. Judge Khan earned a Bachelor of Arts in 2003 from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Juris Doctor in 2006 from the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. From 2017 to 2019, he served as an assistant chief counsel with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in Houston. From 2008 to 2017, he served as an assistant chief counsel with ICE, DHS, in Los Angeles. From 2015 to 2017, he served as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. In 2008, he was an associate attorney with The A.D.I.L.A. Law Group in Los Angeles. From 2006 to 2007, he served as a judicial law clerk for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, DOJ, in Phoenix, entering through the Attorney General's Honors Program. Judge Khan is a member of the State Bar of California and the State Bar of Arizona.

As published by the Executive Office for Immigration Review at appointment, via TRAC.

In the record

  • Executive Office for Immigration Review · 2019-03-18

    Executive Office for Immigration Review Swears in 31 Immigration Judges

    Official DOJ/EOIR notice states then-Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker appointed Anwer A. Khan as an Immigration Judge at the Houston Immigration Court in March 2019, after serving as an ICE assistant chief counsel in Houston and Los Angeles and as a special assistant U.S. attorney in the Central District of California.

Other judges at Houston

Court page →

About these figures. Denial rates describe outcomes in the cases a judge happened to hear, which differ by detention, nationality and representation. They are not a measure of fairness or competence. Method and sources are on the judges index.