Featured Issue: U.S. Immigration Courts under Trump 2.0
The U.S. immigration court system plays a critical role in upholding due process and ensuring fair hearings for individuals facing deportation. However, since January 20, 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has implemented significant changes that challenge the structural integrity of these courts. This page aims to provide up-to-date information on the policy and legal shifts affecting the U.S. immigration court system.
Latest Updates
Updates from EOIR
Browse the Featured Issue: U.S. Immigration Courts under Trump 2.0 collection
AILA and Partners Call on Biden Administration to End MPP Following Supreme Court Decision
In light of the SCOTUS ruling in Biden v. Texas, immigrant and refugee rights organizations and service providers sent a letter urging the Administration to take immediate action to wind down the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and redress the harm suffered by those subjected to it.
Abuse in ICE Detention Continues and So Does the Funding for It
AILA Policy Counsel Jen Whitlock describes the reports and examples of harmful, unnecessary, and wasteful ICE detention and urges readers to take action and tell Congress to reduce ICE detention bed funding for Fiscal Year 2023.
AILA Joins Groups in Urging DHS to Ensure SCOTUS Dobbs Decision Has No Impact on Immigration Enforcement
Immigration, criminal justice, and civil rights organizations urged DHS to immediately issue guidance to prevent the Supreme Court’s rights-stripping decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization from being used against noncitizens seeking reproductive health care in the U.S.
CA9 Says Petitioner Subject to Reinstated Removal Order May Not Challenge Earlier Termination of Separate Removal Proceedings
Dismissing the petition for review for lack of jurisdiction, the court held that a petitioner who is subject to a reinstated order of removal may not challenge an earlier decision terminating separate removal proceedings. (Lopez Luvian v. Garland, 7/19/22)
CA11 Upholds Denial of Motion to Reopen Where Petitioner Failed to Inform Government of New Address
The court held that although the petitioner’s first Notice to Appear was incomplete, the petitioner’s failure to tell the government where he had moved released the government from any obligation of giving him notice of his rescheduled hearing. (Dacostagomez-Aguilar v. Att’y Gen., 7/19/22)
AILA and Partners Submit Amicus Brief on Challenging Mandatory Detention
AILA and partners submitted an amicus brief in Alphonse v. Moniz urging the court to reverse decision on whether an individual can challenge a mandatory detention finding via habeas while also challenging the deportability consequences of the conviction in removal proceedings.
ICE Updates Policy on Interests of Noncitizen Parents and Legal Guardians of Minor Children or Incapacitated Adults
ICE Directive 11064.3 updates policies to ensure parents and legal guardians arrested or detained by ICE can maintain visitation with their child(ren) or the incapacitated adult for whom they serve as guardian, coordinate care, and participate in any related court or child welfare proceedings.
Practice Alert: Affirmative Prosecutorial Discretion Requests May Still Be Made
AILA’s ICE Liaison Committee shares OPLA’s confirmation that affirmative prosecutorial discretion requests may still be made despite litigation surrounding the Mayorkas enforcement priorities memo.
Resources for IJ Complaint Project
The Immigration Justice Campaign provides resources for IJ Complaint Project.
Steps and Timeline for Judicial Complaints
The Immigration Justice Campaign provides steps and timeline for judicial complaints.
CA6 Grants Motion for Stay to Dominican Petitioner with Strong Showing of Irreparable Harm
Where the parties agreed that petitioner would likely be tortured if removed to the Dominican Republic, the court granted the motion for a stay, finding that his arguments presented a sufficient likelihood of success to weigh in favor of granting a stay. (Rondon Antonio v. Garland, 6/29/22)
CA9 Says That a Grant of TPS Does Not Constitute an Admission to the United States
The court held that petitioner’s receipt of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was not an admission, and thus that he did not have seven years of continuous residence in the United States required for purposes of lawful permanent resident cancellation of removal. (Hernandez v. Garland, 6/28/22)
Follow Litigation over Asylum Processing Interim Final Rule
Follow developments in the two separate cases challenging the Biden Administration’s interim final rule (IFR) on asylum processing in federal court. The IFR went into effect on May 31, 2022.
Interest Rate Paid on Cash Deposited To Secure ICE Immigration Bonds
ICE immigration bond interest rate for the period beginning July 1, 2022, and ending on September 30, 2022. (87 FR 40883, 7/8/22)
CA9 Says USCIS Did Not Err in Applying IIRAIRA’s Permanent Inadmissibility Bar to Petitioner’s Pre-IIRAIRA Reentry
The court held that the permanent inadmissibility bar of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) applied retroactively to the petitioner such that he was ineligible for adjustment of status. (Rivera Vega v. Garland, 7/8/22)
CA9 Remands Asylum Claim of Armenian Petitioner Where IJ’s Findings of Inconsistencies Were Not Supported by Record
Granting the petition for review of the denial of the Armenian petitioner’s asylum application, the court held that three out of four inconsistencies the BIA relied upon in upholding the IJ’s adverse credibility determination were not supported by the record. (Barseghyan v. Garland, 7/8/22)
CA5 Finds Petitioner Forfeited Right to Notice by Failing to Provide Viable Mailing Address
The court upheld the BIA’s denial of the petitioner’s motion to reopen and rescind his in absentia removal order based on lack of notice, finding that by moving without providing an address where he could be reached, he had forfeited his right to notice. (Gudiel-Villatoro v. Garland, 7/8/22)
Immigration and the Power of Storytelling
In this blog post, AILA member John Wheaton writes on the power of storytelling in bringing people together and creating community, encouraging his fellow attorneys to consider asking clients to share their stories and increase understanding of the immigrant experience.
CA7 Upholds BIA’s Reversal of CAT Relief as to Mexican Petitioner Threatened by Familia Michoacan Cartel
Where the BIA had vacated the IJ’s grant of deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and had ordered the petitioner removed to Mexico, the court held that the BIA had correctly stated and properly applied the clear error standard of review. (Brito v. Garland, 7/7/22)
CRS In Focus Report: Access to Counsel in Removal Proceedings and Legal Access Programs
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) provides an In Focus report on removal proceedings and access to counsel, including legal access programs.
Detainees at ICA-Farmville Reach Settlement with Government Regarding COVID-19 Protections
The parties reached a settlement under which the ICA-Farmville Detention Center will be allowed to detain a maximum of 180 people and accept transfers only of individuals who are vaccinated, asymptomatic, and test negative for COVID-19. (Santos Garcia, et al. v. Mayorkas, et al., 7/6/22)
CA5 Denies DHS’s Motion for Stay Pending Appeal of Its Updated Guidance on the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law
The court denied DHS’s motion for a stay pending appeal of the district court’s vacatur of its “Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law,” finding that DHS had failed to make a strong showing of likelihood of success on appeal. (Texas, et al. v. United States, et al., 7/6/22)
CA11 Holds That Petitioner’s Virginia Drug Trafficking Convictions Were Categorically CIMTs
The court held that the BIA did not err in concluding that the petitioner was removable because his Virginia drug trafficking convictions categorically constituted crimes involving moral turpitude (CIMTs) within the meaning of INA §237(a)(2)(A)(i)–(ii). (Daye v. Att’y Gen., 7/6/22)
CA6 Reverses Nationwide Preliminary Injunction Partially Blocking DHS’s Civil Immigration Enforcement Guidance
The court held that even if plaintiffs could clear justiciability hurdles, they were unlikely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the “Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law” violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). (Arizona, et al. v. Biden, et al., 7/5/22)
CA9 Upholds Denial of Third Motion to Reopen Based on Allegedly New and Material Country Conditions Evidence in Bangladesh
The court denied the parties’ motion for judicial administrative closure, and denied the petition for review of the BIA’s denial of the petitioner’s third motion to reopen based on new evidence of the growing influence of Jihadist extremists in Bangladesh. (Sarkar, et al. v. Garland, 7/1/22)