Roopal Patel
Immigration Judge, Boston Immigration Court. Appointed May 2024.
Asylum record, FY 2021-2026
TRAC source →- Decisions on the merits
- 743
- Asylum granted
- 294
- Other relief granted
- 39
- Denied
- 410
- Against own court
- +2.6 pts
| FY24 | FY25 | FY26 |
|---|---|---|
| 56% | 52% | 64% |
Docket
Respondents represented by counsel: 92% (nationally, 81% are represented).
Most common nationalities: Brazil (61.4%), Colombia (8.2%), Ecuador (6.9%), Angola (5.2%), Guatemala (4%).
Official biography
Roopal B. Patel was appointed as an immigration judge to begin hearing cases in May 2024. Judge Patel earned a Bachelor of Arts in 2003 from Harvard University and a Juris Doctor in 2011 from New York University School of Law. From 2014 to 2024, she was a senior staff attorney at Manhattan Legal Services where she worked on a wide variety of cases, including immigration cases. From 2011 to 2013, she was a staff attorney at the Brennan Center for Justice. Judge Patel is a member of the New York State Bar.
In the record
Trump administration fires Boston immigration judge who issued ruling in Tufts student's case
WBUR reports that the Trump administration fired Boston immigration judge Roopal Patel, who had ruled the government had no grounds to deport Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts doctoral student arrested in Somerville by masked immigration agents. Her dismissal followed dozens of other immigration judge firings.
Immigration judges who ruled in Ozturk, Mahdawi cases fired
Patel, a Boston immigration judge, and Nina Froes of the Chelmsford court were fired near the end of their two-year probationary periods, both told GBH News. Patel says she was on a break during an asylum hearing when she received an email stating her position would not be converted.
Judge who dismissed Tufts student's deportation case speaks out after being fired
Judge Roopal Patel told WCVB that her firing was not entirely unexpected because it fits a pattern she has seen from the Trump administration, but that it came in the middle of a hearing. She had dismissed the deportation case against Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk.
Other judges at Boston
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.