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

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

Immigration judges

Wade Thomas Napier

Immigration Judge, Boston Immigration Court. Appointed April 2021.

Asylum record, FY 2021-2026

TRAC source →
Judge Napier59.2%
Boston court52.6%
All judges nationally62.9%
Decisions on the merits
130
Asylum granted
49
Other relief granted
4
Denied
77
Against own court
+6.6 pts
Denial rate by fiscal year
FY22FY23
53%68%

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

Docket

Respondents represented by counsel: 98% (nationally, 81% are represented).

Most common nationalities: Guatemala (25.4%), Brazil (19.2%), El Salvador (15.4%), Honduras (9.2%), Ecuador (4.6%).

Official biography

Wade T. Napier was appointed as a Unit Chief Immigration Judge to begin supervisory immigration adjudication center duties and hearing cases in April 2021. Judge Napier ear ned a Bachelor of Science in 2001 from Transylvania University and a Juris Doctor in 2005 from Northern Kentucky University–Salmon P. Chase College of Law. From 2008 to 2021, he serve das an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, in Lexington. In 2008, heserved as a Staff Attorney for a Trial Court Judge, in Boone County, Kentucky. From 2005 to2007, he worked in the Claims Litigation Department of Great American Insurance Company, in Cincinnati. Judge Napier is a member of the Kentucky 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 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.