New York · est. 2013Friday, September 25, 2026
Inside Immigration

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

Immigration judges

Carrie C. Johnson-Papillo

Immigration Judge, New York/Federal Plaza Immigration Court. Appointed March 2019 by Matthew Whitaker.

StrictDenies more often than the national average+12.1 points

Asylum record, FY 2021-2026

TRAC source →
Judge Johnson-Papillo75.0%
New York court47.7%
All judges nationally62.9%
Decisions on the merits
1,096
Asylum granted
228
Other relief granted
46
Denied
822
Against own court
+27.3 pts
Denial rate by fiscal year
FY22FY23FY24FY25FY26
42%53%53%83%98%

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

Docket

Respondents represented by counsel: 78% (nationally, 81% are represented).

Most common nationalities: China (22.1%), Ecuador (18.8%), India (10.1%), Venezuela (4.7%), Bangladesh (4.7%).

Official biography

Then-Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker appointed Carrie C. Johnson-Papillo to begin supervisory immigration court duties and hearing cases in March 2019. She will oversee the Elizabeth and Newark immigration courts. Judge Johnson-Papillo earned a Bachelor of Arts in2000 from Fairfield University and a Juris Doctor in 2003 from Washington University Schoolof law in Saint Louis. From 2008 to 2018, she served as a deputy chief counsel with the Office of Chief Counsel (OCC), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in New York. From 2005 to 2008, she served as the deputy chief in the Knowledge Management Division, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, ICE, DHS, in Washington D.C. From 2003 to 2005, she served as an assistant chief counsel, OCC, ICE, DHS,first in Newark and later in New York. Judge Johnson-Papillo is a member of the State Bar of New York.

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

In the record

  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · 2020-11-16

    Yunga-Tenecela v. Attorney General of the United States

    Non-precedential Third Circuit opinion names Carrie C. Johnson-Papillo as the immigration judge who denied an adjournment request and concurred with a negative reasonable fear determination against an Ecuadorian woman, reasoning that conflicts of a personal nature do not constitute persecution on account of a protected ground. The court denied the petition for review.

Other judges at New York

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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.