What is Judge Michael Neal's background?
EOIR's notice says that Michael Neal was appointed in November 2024. Judge Neal earned a Bachelor of Arts in 2011 from the University of Florida and a Juris Doctor in 2014 from the University of Florida Levin College of Law. From 2021 to 2024, he was an immigration legal services advisor at the International Rescue Committee in Miami, a global nonprofit which provides humanitarian assistance to refugees and asylum seekers. From 2018 to 2021, he served as an assistant federal public defender at the Office of the Federal Public Defender in El Paso, Texas. From 2016 to 2018, he served as an associate counsel at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, Department of Veterans Affairs, in Washington, D.C. From 2015 to 2016, he served as an assistant public defender at the Polk County Office of the Public Defender in Bartow, Florida.
What does TRAC report about Judge Michael Neal'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 Michael Neal decided 629 asylum cases at Newark Immigration Court and denied 83.0 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 Michael Neal 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 Newark Immigration Court. The relationship is recorded as listed 2026-10-20; it may include supervisory coverage rather than a merits-hearing assignment.