Michael Martin Neal
Immigration Judge, Newark Immigration Court. Appointed November 2024.
Asylum record, FY 2021-2026
TRAC source →- Decisions on the merits
- 629
- Asylum granted
- 43
- Other relief granted
- 64
- Denied
- 522
- Against own court
- +12.7 pts
| FY25 | FY26 |
|---|---|
| 62% | 89% |
Docket
Respondents represented by counsel: 81% (nationally, 81% are represented).
Most common nationalities: Ecuador (18.8%), Guatemala (16.1%), Colombia (9.9%), Peru (9.1%), Honduras (8.7%).
Official biography
Michael Martin Neal was appointed as an immigration judge to begin hearing cases in November 2024. Judge Neal ear ned a Bachelor of Arts in 2011 from the University of Florida and a Juris Doctor in 2014 from the University of Florida Levin College of Law. From 2021 to 2024, he was an immigration legal services advisor at the International Rescue Committee in Miami, a global nonprofit which provides humanitarian assistance to refugees and asylum seek ers. From 2018 to 2021, he served as an assistant federal public defender at the Office of the Federal Public Defender in El Paso, Texas. From 2016 to 2018, he served as an associate counsel at the Board of Veterans' Appeals, Department of Veterans Affairs, in Washington, D.C. From 2015 to 2016, he served as an assistant public defender at the Polk County Office of the Public Defender in Bartow, Florida. In addition, Judge Neal has provided pro bono immigration legal aid to Annunciation House in El Paso; veterans legal aid to the El Paso Bar Association; and medical debt legal aid for Dade Legal Aid in Miami. Judge Neal is a member of the Florida Bar and the State of Texas Bar.
In the record
No published reporting or appellate decisions naming this judge have been collected yet.
Other judges at Newark
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.