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

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

Immigration judges

Eva S. Saltzman

Immigration Judge, Chicago Immigration Court. Appointed August 2016 by Loretta E. Lynch.

Asylum record, FY 2021-2026

TRAC source →
Judge Saltzman24.8%
Chicago court49.0%
All judges nationally62.9%
Decisions on the merits
569
Asylum granted
359
Other relief granted
69
Denied
141
Against own court
-24.2 pts
Denial rate by fiscal year
FY21FY22FY23FY24FY25FY26
37%15%15%20%41%51%

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

Docket

Respondents represented by counsel: 86% (nationally, 81% are represented).

Most common nationalities: Nigeria (14.4%), Mexico (10.2%), Honduras (9.3%), Venezuela (8.3%), Guatemala (6.7%).

Official biography

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Eva S. Saltzman to begin hearing cases in August 2016. Judge Saltzman earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1999 from the University of Wisconsin and a Juris Doctor in 2002 from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. From 2006 to July 2016, she served as a supervisory staff attorney for the Staff Attorney's Office, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York. From 2005 through 2006, she served as an associate attorney for Wildes, Weinberg, Grunblatt & Wildes PC, in New York. From 2002 through 2005, she served as an associate attorney for Avirom & Associates LLP, in New York. Judge Saltzman is a member of the Connecticut, District of Columbia, and New York State Bars.

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

In the record

  • Executive Office for Immigration Review · 2016-08-02

    EOIR Swears in Five Immigration Judges

    EOIR announced that Attorney General Loretta Lynch appointed Eva S. Saltzman among five new immigration judges invested at a July 2016 ceremony in the ceremonial courtroom of the E. Barrett Prettyman courthouse in Washington.

  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · 2018-07-12

    Odalis Sandoval Alonzo v. Attorney General United States

    A Third Circuit opinion on a petition for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals order names Eva S. Saltzman as the immigration judge in the underlying removal proceedings involving Odalis Sandoval-Alonzo and her child.

  • Block Club Chicago · 2025-10-30

    Judge Orders Release Of Cancer Patient's Father Arrested By ICE, Citing No Criminal Record

    Block Club Chicago reports that at a bond hearing Immigration Judge Eva S. Saltzman set a $2,000 bond for Torres Maldonado, the father of a teenager undergoing chemotherapy, saying she saw nothing in the record indicating he was a danger.

  • The Spokesman-Review · 2026-07-31

    2 more Chicago immigration judges fired as court becomes epicenter of deportation orders

    Reporting carried by The Spokesman-Review says Immigration Judge Eva Saltzman was fired from the Chicago Immigration Court alongside Elizabeth Crites, and that Saltzman had issued the fewest removal orders of the group, just 33.

Other judges at Chicago

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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.