Sankofaonline News Desk — January 21, 2026
As former Ghanaian Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta faces deportation proceedings in the United States, attention has increasingly shifted to the man who will ultimately determine his legal fate — Immigration Judge David A. Gardey of the Arlington Immigration Court.
Judge Gardey’s background, judicial record, and professional philosophy offer critical insight into how he approaches immigration cases, and what that may mean for one of the most high-profile African political figures currently before the U.S. immigration system.
This analysis draws exclusively from publicly available data, including the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), U.S. Department of Justice records, and Judge Gardey’s documented professional history.
Judge David A. Gardey was appointed to the immigration bench in August 2023. While relatively new as an immigration judge, he brings nearly three decades of experience within the U.S. legal system, spanning elite private practice, federal prosecution, and senior leadership roles.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1990 before completing his Juris Doctor at Notre Dame Law School in 1993. Following law school, he served as a judicial law clerk at the U.S. District Court in Michigan from 1993 to 1995.
From 1995 to 1997, Judge Gardey worked as an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York, one of America’s most prestigious law firms. He later joined Butzel Long PC in Detroit, where he served as a supervisory attorney from 1997 to 2001.
His most defining professional chapter came during his 22-year tenure as a federal prosecutor — an unusually long period that shaped his reputation as a meticulous and tough-minded legal professional.
Between 2001 and 2005, he served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, handling major federal prosecutions in Miami, one of the country’s busiest jurisdictions for immigration and narcotics cases.
He later transferred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, where he served from 2005 until 2023. During this period, he held several senior leadership roles, including Special Counsel to the U.S. Attorney, Chief of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Unit, and Chief of the Drug Task Force Unit.
This background is particularly significant. Prosecutors who specialize in corruption, civil rights enforcement, and narcotics investigations typically develop a highly structured, evidence-driven approach to legal decision-making — a mindset that often carries into judicial service.
Judge Gardey is licensed to practice law in both Michigan and New York.
Data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse covering fiscal years 2020 through the first eleven months of 2025 shows that Judge Gardey has decided 177 asylum cases on their merits.
Of those cases, 144 were denied, 30 were granted asylum, and three received other forms of relief. This produces an overall asylum denial rate of 81.4 percent.
By comparison, the national average denial rate during the same period stands at 58.9 percent, while the Arlington Immigration Court average is 51.5 percent. Judge Gardey’s denial rate is therefore significantly higher than both his court and the national benchmark.
This statistic does not necessarily indicate an anti-immigrant stance. However, it strongly suggests a strict interpretation of asylum law, a high evidentiary threshold, and a judicial philosophy heavily influenced by prosecutorial discipline.
Further analysis shows that his denial rate cannot be attributed to lack of legal representation. Only 5.6 percent of asylum seekers appearing before him were unrepresented — far lower than the national average of 17.1 percent.
His caseload has largely involved applicants from El Salvador, Honduras, Peru, Bolivia, and Nicaragua. While asylum outcomes from these countries vary, they do not statistically explain an 81 percent denial rate on their own.
The data therefore indicates that Judge Gardey’s personal judicial approach plays a major role in case outcomes.
While Ken Ofori-Atta’s matter is reportedly not an asylum claim but rather a removal proceeding, the same judicial temperament will apply.
Judge Gardey’s extensive experience prosecuting public corruption, civil rights violations, and complex federal crimes suggests a jurist who is detail-oriented, evidence-driven, and comfortable handling politically sensitive or high-profile cases. His record indicates that political stature or public influence is unlikely to sway his rulings.
An 81.4 percent denial rate reflects a judge who applies immigration statutes narrowly, demands strong documentation, and carefully scrutinizes credibility and procedural compliance.
Ofori-Atta’s reported access to experienced U.S. legal representation will be a significant factor. Nationwide data consistently shows that represented respondents fare substantially better than those without counsel.
However, his public profile may cut both ways. High-profile respondents often face greater scrutiny, fewer presumptions of credibility, and heightened expectations for precise, well-documented legal arguments.
Judge Gardey’s prosecutorial background suggests that the outcome will rest almost entirely on the strength of the law, the evidence presented, and strict procedural compliance — not political history or public standing.
As proceedings continue, the case stands as one of the most closely watched immigration matters involving a former African cabinet minister in recent U.S. history.
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