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

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

Immigration judges

Suzette Smikle

Immigration Judge, Atlanta W. Peachtree Street Immigration Court. Appointed October 2022.

Asylum record, FY 2021-2026

TRAC source →
Judge Smikle83.2%
Atlanta court82.4%
All judges nationally62.9%
Decisions on the merits
558
Asylum granted
52
Other relief granted
42
Denied
464
Against own court
+0.8 pts
Denial rate by fiscal year
FY23FY24FY25FY26
56%71%91%90%

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

Docket

Respondents represented by counsel: 78% (nationally, 81% are represented).

Most common nationalities: Venezuela (17.6%), Mexico (15.2%), Nicaragua (10.9%), Colombia (8.8%), Peru (7.3%).

Official biography

Suzette A. Smikle was appointed as an Immigration Judge to begin hearing cases in October 2022. Judge Smikle ear ned a Bachelor of Arts in 1997 from Georgetown University and a Juris Doctor in 2002 from Harvard Law School. From 2019 to 2022, she served as an assistant U.S. attorney (AUSA) at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida; and from 2010 to 2019, she served as an AUSA at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia. From February 2015 to September 2016, while on a temporary detail, Judge Smikle served as the Resident Legal Advisor for the United States Embassies in Bujumbura, Burundi (February-August 2015) and Niamey, Niger (August 2015 to September 2016) through the Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training, Department of Justice. From 2008 to 2010, Judge Smikle served as a regional legal officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development, in Washington, D.C., and Lima, Peru; and from 2003 to 2008, she served as a trial attorney with the Consumer Protection Branch of DOJ in Washington, D.C. From 2002 to 2003, before beginning her service as a trial attorney, Judge Smikle was a judicial law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, the Florida Bar, and the State Bar of Georgia.

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 Atlanta

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.