New York · est. 2013Friday, September 4, 2026
Inside Immigration

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

Immigration judges

Elizabeth A. Kessler

Immigration Judge, Hyattsville Immigration Court. Appointed January 2006.

Asylum record, FY 2021-2026

TRAC source →
Judge Kessler75.9%
Hyattsville court57.6%
All judges nationally62.9%
Decisions on the merits
615
Asylum granted
127
Other relief granted
21
Denied
467
Against own court
+18.3 pts
Denial rate by fiscal year
FY24FY25FY26
48%76%84%

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

Docket

Respondents represented by counsel: 54% (nationally, 81% are represented).

Most common nationalities: El Salvador (18.4%), Honduras (11.9%), Guatemala (10.7%), Cameroon (10.1%), Peru (7.2%).

Official biography

Judge Kessler was appointed as an Immigration Judge in January 2006. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1987 from Columbia University; a Master of Arts degree in International Relations 1992 from Yale Graduate School ; and a Juris Doctorate in 1992 from Yale Law School. From November 2003 to January 2006, Judge Kessler served as a deputy associate attorney general at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, DC. She previously served as a deputy general counsel for the U.S. Department of Energy. Judge Kessler served as general counsel with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, in Washington, DC, from January 1997 to 1999, and as counsel on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee from January 1995 to January 1979. From 1993 to 1994, she was an attorney with the Civil Division, Appellate staff, at DOJ, and a Bristow Fellow with the Office of the Solicitor General Judge Kessler served as a law clerk with Judge Richard J. Cardamone, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, from 1992 to 1993. She is a member of both the Maryland and District of Columbia Bars.

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

In the record

No published reporting or appellate decisions naming this judge have been collected yet.

Other judges at Hyattsville

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.