Judge Michael Sullivan (Chelmsford, MA) approved 18.2% of decisions at final hearings over 5 years — 11 such decisions in total. National average: 34.9%. Average in this court: 32.8%.
This judge's approval rate is 16.7 pp lower than the national average and 14.6 pp lower than the court average.
Over 5 years, judge Michael Sullivan completed 49 cases. Decisions at the final hearing (approval or denial): 11; the rest are decisions at preliminary hearings, in-absentia removals, denials without a hearing, closed, terminated and other cases.
The median time from the start of a case to the decision with this judge is 33 mo.: half of the cases are decided faster, half take longer.
This judge sets the final (individual) hearing on average (median) 2 mo. after the master hearing; for half of cases, 43 days to 3 mo. Court average: 46 days. Nationwide: 12 mo. The judge already has 46 final hearings scheduled; 95% of them are before the end of 2027.
In absentia (the person did not come to the hearing), removal was ordered in 40.8% of all cases; without a merits hearing (pretermission), 0.0% were denied. These cases are not part of the approval rate.
Chelmsford, MA. Court page lists all judges of this court and their approval rates.
This is EOIR data (Executive Office for Immigration Review, US Department of Justice) released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), as of September 30, 2026. How the figures are calculated — see “How we calculate”.
Sullivan, Michael, immigration judge (Chelmsford, MA). Asylum and other protection-from-removal approval rate at final hearings over 5 years: 18.2%, with 11 such decisions. National average: 34.9%. Court average: 32.8%. Share of applicants with an attorney: 100.0%.
