What is Judge John C. Barnes's background?
EOIR's notice says that John C. Barnes was appointed in June 2020. Judge Barnes earned a Bachelor of Science in 2002 from Texas A&M University and a Juris Doctor in 2009 from Ave Maria School of Law. From 2018 to 2020, he served as an assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, in Corpus Christi, Texas. From 2017 to 2018, he served as the editor of The Army Lawyer, Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, in Charlottesville, Virginia. From 2015 to 2017, he served as a training officer, Defense Counsel Assistance Program, U.S. Army, at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. From 2013 to 2015, he served as defense counsel, U.S. Army, in the following locations: Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
What does TRAC report about Judge John C. Barnes's asylum decisions?
TRAC, a research center that began at Syracuse University, reports that for FY 2021 - 2026 (data covers the first 9 months of fiscal year 2026), Judge John C. Barnes decided 490 asylum cases at Arlington Immigration Court and denied 66.1 percent, based on its report of Aug 27, 2026. These are past figures for one court. They do not predict your case, which turns on your facts, evidence, nationality and representation, and TRAC cautions against simple comparisons between judges at different courts. Read the full report at TRAC, and talk to a lawyer about your own case.
What the official record establishes
The source lists the name John C. Barnes in 1 alphabetical row. The recorded title is Assistant Chief Immigration Judge. The record is not an appointment history or an employment certification.
Dated court associations
EOIR’s court-specific tables associate this entry with Annandale Immigration Court; Richmond Immigration Adjudication Center. The relationship is recorded as listed 2026-10-20; it may include supervisory coverage rather than a merits-hearing assignment.