What is Judge John Cortes's background?
EOIR's notice says that John Cortes was appointed in March 2019. Judge Cortes earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1999 from the City University of New York at Brooklyn College and a Juris Doctor in 2002 at the New York Law School. From 2003 to 2018, he served as an assistant district attorney for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, and from 2013 to 2018, he served as a principal assistant district attorney for the same court.
What does TRAC report about Judge John Cortes'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 Cortes decided 1313 asylum cases at Phoenix Immigration Court and denied 87.9 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 Cortes in 1 alphabetical row. The recorded title is 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 Phoenix Immigration Court. The relationship is recorded as listed 2026-10-20; it may include supervisory coverage rather than a merits-hearing assignment.