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

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

Immigration judges

Jason R. Masterson

Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court. Appointed December 2020 by William P. Barr.

Asylum record, FY 2021-2026

TRAC source →
Judge Masterson31.9%
San Francisco court28.4%
All judges nationally62.9%
Decisions on the merits
285
Asylum granted
190
Other relief granted
4
Denied
91
Against own court
+3.5 pts
Denial rate by fiscal year
FY21FY22
27%35%

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

Docket

Respondents represented by counsel: 95% (nationally, 81% are represented).

Most common nationalities: India (27.7%), Mexico (16.1%), El Salvador (15.1%), Guatemala (14%), Honduras (7.4%).

Official biography

Attorney General William P. Barr appointed Jason R. Masterson as an Immigration Judge in December 2020. Judge Masterson ear ned a Bachelor of Arts in 2003 from the University of Cincinnati, a Juris Doctor in 2010 from the University of Cincinnati College of Law, and a Master of Arts in 2000 from the Naval War College. From 2011 to 2020, he served as an active duty judge advocate in the U.S. Navy in the following roles and locations: from March to September 2020, deputy staff attorney for all U.S. Forces Afghanistan and the NATO Resolute Support mission, Afghanistan, and chief of Leahy Law and Gross Violations of Human Rights,Afghanistan; from 2018 to 2020, staff attorney and probable-cause hearing officer, Navy Region Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia; from 2015 to 2018, deputy staff attorney, Naval Special Warfare, Virginia Beach, Virginia, including deployments to the Republic of Korea and southern Philippines; from 2013 to 2015, defense counsel, Gulfport, Mississippi; and from 2011 to 2013,prosecutor and special assistant to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, San Diego. From 2009 to 2010, he worked in the Cincinnati Prosecutor's office. From 2008 to 2009,he was a fellow with the Ohio Innocence Project. From 2004 to 2007, he served as a substance abuse and mental illness case manager for a Cincinnati-area nonprofit. Judge Masterson ism ember of the Ohio State Bar.

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 San Francisco

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.