What is Judge Melissa Karlen's background?
EOIR's notice says that Melissa Karlen was appointed in October 2019. Judge Karlen earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1998 from the University of California, Riverside, and a Juris Doctor in 2001 from University of San Francisco School of Law. From 2008 to 2019, she served as an assistant U.S. attorney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, Department of Justice, in Phoenix. From 2007 to 2008, she served as an assistant chief counsel, Office of the Chief Counsel, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, in Los Angeles. From 2002 to 2007, she served as a deputy prosecuting attorney with the City and County of Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office, in Honolulu. From 2001 to 2002, she worked in private practice, in San Francisco.
What does TRAC report about Judge Melissa Karlen'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 Melissa Karlen decided 472 asylum cases at Phoenix Immigration Court and denied 73.3 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 Melissa Karlen 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.