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
ICE Guidance on Delegation of Parental Authority
ICE provides a “delegation of parental authority packet” that contains the appropriate forms to use for delegating parental rights to another person through “child” or “custodial” power of attorney.
Think Immigration: Court Conundrum: Omaha Immigration Court Frequently Compromises Due Process Rights
In this blog post, Kelly Shanahan highlights an ACLU of Nebraska report detailing due process concerns in Omaha immigration hearings, and urging readers to tell Congress to remove EOIR from the Department of Justice and establish an Article 1 independent immigration court system.
Practice Advisory: Seeking Release of Clients Detained in Virginia Under Rodriguez Guerra v. Perry Settlement
The NIP, Amica Center, and the ACLU of Virginia provide a practice advisory on a proposed agreement in Rodriguez Guerra v. Perry, a class action challenging ICE ERO Washington Field Office's failure to abide by ICE's policy to immediately review the custody of certain detained individuals.
CA9 Vacates Grant of Habeas Petition After Finding District Court Erred in Exercising Jurisdiction over Petition
The court held that the district court erroneously exercised jurisdiction over the habeas petition, because the petitioner did not name his immediate custodian as the respondent and filed his complaint outside of the judicial district where he was confined. (Doe v. Garland, et al., 7/29/24)
CA5 Upholds Asylum Denial to Petitioner Who Alleged She Suffered State-Sponsored Persecution in Angola
The court held that substantial evidence supported the BIA’s conclusion that the petitioner, who alleged that she had been persecuted by the Angolan government due to her father’s anti-corruption activities, had not suffered state-sponsored persecution. (L.N. v. Garland, 7/25/24)
Think Immigration: I Wish People Knew Our Immigration Laws Haven’t Aged Well
As part of our “One Thing” series, Sandra Feist highlights specific examples of how our immigration laws do not serve the interests of American businesses or communities well and calls on Congress to move forward with immigration reform that would be reflective of today’s realities.
CA3 Transfers Petitions for Review to Sixth Circuit After Finding IJ Completed Proceedings in Ohio
The court concluded that the IJ had completed the petitioner’s proceedings in Ohio, that venue was proper in the Sixth Circuit, and that it was in the interests of justice to transfer the three petitions for review to the Sixth Circuit. (Castillo v. Att’y Gen., 7/24/24)
CA9 Remands Asylum Claim for Reassessment of Credibility Ground as to Chinese Petitioner Allegedly Subjected to Forced Abortion
The court concluded that the agency’s credibility determination may have been affected by a misstatement of Chinese law that was a centerpiece of the government’s cross-examination of the petitioner at her removal hearing, and thus granted the petition for review. (Shen v. Garland, 7/24/24)
CA6 Holds That Substantial Evidence Supported Agency’s Denial of Hardship Waivers to Egyptian Petitioner
The court upheld the agency’s finding that the petitioner had not married in good faith or suffered extreme cruelty, and thus that she was ineligible for hardship waivers to the joint petition requirement to remove conditions on her permanent resident status. (Elgebaly v. Garland, 7/23/24)
CA7 Says It Lacks Jurisdiction to Review IJ’s Discretionary Denial of Mexican Petitioner’s Cancellation of Removal Application
The court held that it lacked jurisdiction to review the IJ’s discretionary decision to deny the petitioner’s application for cancellation of removal under INA §240A(b)(1), and found that it lacked jurisdiction over the BIA’s review of that decision. (Sandoval Reynoso v. Garland, 7/23/24)
CA8 Finds Guatemalan Father of Three Children Failed to Satisfy Exceptional and Extremely Unusual Hardship Standard
On remand from the Supreme Court, the court held that the BIA did not abuse its discretion in determining that the petitioner had failed to satisfy the exceptional and extremely unusual hardship standard for purposes of cancellation of removal eligibility. (Gonzalez-Rivas v. Garland, 7/23/24)
CA9 Concludes That Petitioner Born in Mexico Was Not Eligible for Derivative Citizenship Based on INA §321(a)
The court determined that the petitioner was not eligible for derivative citizenship based on INA §321(a), and found that substantial evidence supported the BIA’s denial of Convention Against Torture (CAT) relief. (Colin-Villavicencio v. Garland, 7/23/24)
EOIR 60-Day Notice of Comments on Form EOIR-29A
EOIR 60-day notice for comments on Form EOIR-29A, Notice of Motion To Reconsider/Reopen a Decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals From an Initial Decision of a DHS Officer. Comments are due by 9/23/24. (89 FR 59773, 7/23/24)
Former Immigration Judges Strongly Support the Strengthening Immigration Procedure's Act of 2024
The Round Table of Former Immigration Judges applauded Senator Murphy for introducing the Strengthening Immigration Procedures Act of 2024, which would bring the standard needed to prove ineffective assistance of counsel in immigration cases into alignment with every other area of law.
AILA Sends Letter to Ensure Consistency and Fairness in Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Cases
AILA sent a letter to DOJ and DHS urging reform to the legal standard governing ineffective assistance of counsel claims in immigration matters.
Practice Alert: ICE Terminating Free Minutes for People in Detention
ICE is terminating the 520 free telephone minutes provided for people in detention during COVID-19. AILA members are encouraged to use ICE’s Virtual Attorney Visitation program and reminds members that they can request certain free phone calls under the PBNDS.
CA1 Finds Petitioner Who Experienced Harassment from Gang Members in El Salvador Failed to Show Membership in Valid PSG
The court concluded that the petitioner’s claimed particular social groups (PSGs)— “young person who has been beaten and threatened by gangs” and “young individual in the country who’s been targeted for gang recruitment” —were not cognizable. (Ramos-Gutierrez v. Garland, 7/18/24)
CA1 Remands Withholding of Removal Claim of Petitioner Who Fled Liberia as a Child During Civil War
The court held that the BIA and IJ had failed to address whether the petitioner’s childhood escape from Liberia because of systematic ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Krahn people during the Liberian civil war constituted past persecution. (Paye v. Garland, 7/17/24)
CA2 Upholds Asylum Denial to Nepalese Petitioner Who Received Death Threats from Maiost Partisans
The court held that death threats are not per se indicative of past persecution, and found that the death threats directed at the petitioner were not sufficiently imminent, concrete, or menacing so as to constitute past persecution under the case-by-case approach. (KC v. Garland, 7/17/24)
CA2 Finds That IJ and BIA Properly Admitted Form I-213 into Evidence as Reliable Document
The court held that the IJ and BIA properly considered the Form I-213 prepared by immigration officials, because it was presumptively reliable and capable of proving alienage by clear and convincing evidence, and the petitioner did not rebut that presumption. (Vera Punin v. Garland, 7/16/24)
CA4 Finds Petitioner Was Not Eligible for Cancellation of Removal Based on His Conviction for Soliciting Prostitution in Virginia
The court held that petitioner’s conviction for soliciting prostitution in Virginia was a crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT), and thus that petitioner was ineligible for cancellation of removal pursuant to INA §240A(b)(1) based on his prior conviction. (Ortega-Cordova v. Garland, 7/16/24)
CA8 Upholds Asylum Denial Where Petitioner Claimed Past Persecution Based on Her Daughter’s Medical Treatment in Guatemala
The court upheld the BIA’s conclusion that the petitioner had not established past persecution, where she alleged that she was persecuted by hospital staff at a government-run hospital in Guatemala where she would take her daughter, who had a genetic disorder. (Calvo-Tino v. Garland, 7/12/24)
CA11 Upholds Denial of Yemeni Petitioner’s Request for Administrative Closure or Continuance
The court found that it lacked jurisdiction over the BIA’s denial of the petitioner’s motion to remand, and concluded that the BIA did not abuse its discretion in denying his request for an administrative closure or a continuance. (Alkotof v. Att’y Gen., 7/12/24)
CA9 Finds That Petitioner’s Nevada Conviction for Attempted Lewdness with Child under 14 Constitutes Attempted Aggravated Felony
The court held that the offense of attempted lewdness with a child under the age of 14, in violation of Nev. Rev. Stat. §§193.330 and 201.230(2), constitutes an attempted sexual abuse of a minor aggravated felony that rendered the petitioner removable. (Leon Perez v. Garland, 6/28/24)
CA11 Finds That Petitioner Was Properly Ordered Removed in Absentia Where She Provided an Erroneous Address and Failed to Correct It
The court held that because the petitioner had provided the government with an inaccurate address at which she could be reached and failed to correct it, immigration officials were excused from providing her notice of her removal hearing. (Rosales-Mendez v. Att’y Gen., 6/20/24)