What is Judge Kelly Johnson's background?
EOIR's notice says that Kelly Johnson was appointed in November 2018. Judge Johnson earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1996 from the University of Missouri and a Juris Doctor in 2000 from the University of Tennessee College of Law. From 2012 to 2018, he served as an assistant chief counsel and deputy chief counsel with the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in Lumpkin, Georgia. From 2010 to 2012, he served as an assistant chief counsel with ICE, DHS, in Port Isabel, Texas. From 2001 to 2010, he was an attorney in private practice, in Knoxville, Tennessee.
What does TRAC report about Judge Kelly Johnson'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 Kelly Johnson decided 443 asylum cases at Memphis Immigration Court and denied 91.2 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 Kelly Johnson 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 Memphis Immigration Court - Louisville. The relationship is recorded as listed 2026-10-20; it may include supervisory coverage rather than a merits-hearing assignment.