Immigration Asylum - Does Success Depend on Your Location?

Immigration asylum cases are granted at widely varying rates by different judges, and in different cities.  San Francisco (72%) / New York (80%) / the NE seaboard have the highest rates for granting asylum.  Locations closer to Latin America have lower rates.

Differences may be due to local political climate and judicial discretion, but asylum is also harder to claim for Latin Americans fleeing gang or domestic violence, which is not usually grounds for asylum.  Also, people flying in to JFK are more likely to be able to afford lawyers than people walking through Mexico.