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
CA2 Upholds Matter of J-E-, Finds Haitian Prison Conditions Not Torture
The court held that the failure to maintain standards of diet, hygiene, and living space in prison does not constitute torture unless conditions are sufficiently extreme and intentionally inflicted. (Pierre v. Gonzales, 9/11/07)
CA2 Upholds Matter of Smriko, Finds Refugees May Be Removed
The court joined the Third and Ninth Circuits in finding no immunity from removal for refugees. The court noted that even if Petitioner had retained refugee status after adjustment he would be subject to removal for drug trafficking. (Maiwand v. Gonzales, 9/11/07)
Isn't Lady Justice Still Blind?
AILA President Kathleen Campbell Walker states support for those who engaged in educating immigrants on their legal rights, and criticizes an ICE spokesperson's reported statement "encouraging" organizations that provide this information to stop doing so.
CA7 Holds Government Responsible for Ensuring Delivery of Hearing Notice
The court held that Petitioner did not “thwart delivery” of his hearing notice by failing to inform INS that mail must be addressed “in care of” his brother-in-law with whom he was staying.(Peralta-Cabrera v. Gonzales, 9/7/07)
CA7-Posner Issues Scathing Opinion Overturning Negative Credibility Finding
Judge Posner noted that an avalanche of asylum claims has placed unbearable pressures on a grossly understaffed system. In reversing the IJ’s negative credibility finding, he ruled that egregious failures by IJs could be understood but not excused. (Kadia v. Gonzales, 9/7/07)
CA3 Remands Honduran Gang Recruitment Case Due to Legal and Factual Errors
The court held that the IJ erred by requiring Petitioner to prove that the government refused to protect him rather than that the government was unable or unwilling to protect him. (Valdiezo-Galdamez v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 9/7/07)
CA11 Finds Harm Suffered by Colombian Applicant Amounted to Persecution
CA11 held that the harm Petitioner suffered (threats and attempted attacks over an 18-month period that culminated in being stopped on the roadway and threatened at gunpoint by members of FARC who broke his nose) amounted to persecution as a matter of law. (Marin v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 9/6/07)
Langlois Memo on Changes to NACARA Lesson Plan and Quality Assurance Review Categories
A 9/6/07 Memo from Joseph Langlois, USCIS Asylum Division Chief, revises the Asylum Officer Lesson Plan on suspension of deportation and cancellation of removal under NACARA. The memo also addresses changes to the categories of NACARA cases that must be submitted to HQ for quality assurance review.
CA3 Affords 30-Day Grace Period for Narrow Class Seeking Judicial Review Post-REAL ID
The court held that criminal deportees who received a final order of removal but did not file a habeas petition in district court before REAL ID’s effective date, are afforded a 30-day grace period—until June 11, 2005—to file a claim. (Kolkevich v. Att’y Gen. of the U.S., 9/6/07)
CA1 Says LPR Who Obtained Status by Fraud Is Ineligible for Cancellation
The court found that Petitioner, who failed to disclose an arrest on his adjustment of status application, was never “lawfully admitted for permanent residence” and was therefore ineligible for cancellation of removal. (Mejia-Orellana v. Gonzales, 9/6/07)
CA4 Strikes Down Regulation Barring Motions to Reopen Filed After A Person Is Removed
CA4 held that the regulation barring motions to reopen filed after a person departs or is removed is invalid because it conflicts with the motion to reopen statute. The BIA has jurisdiction to adjudicate a motion to reopen filed post-departure. (William v. Gonzales, 9/6/07)
BIA Holds Fear of FGM of Daughter Not Sufficient Basis for Asylum or Withholding
The BIA held that an alien may not establish eligibility for asylum or withholding of removal based solely on fear that his or her daughter will be harmed by being forced to undergo female genital mutilation upon returning to the alien’s home country. Matter of A-K, 24 I&N Dec. 275 (BIA 2007)
AILA Chapters Workplace Raids Action Plan
AILA guide for chapters to respond during and after large-scale ICE enforcement activities.
2007 Resources for Responding to Large-Scale ICE Raids
Listing of resources, created in 2007, to assist in responding to workplace enforcement raids in your community.
CA9 Holds Birth of Two USC Children Is Not a Basis for MTR for Asylum
CA9 held that Chinese asylum applicants could not establish changed circumstances sufficient to satisfy the exception to the time and numerical bars applicable to a motion to reopen based on the birth of children in the U.S. and the threat of forced sterilization. (He v. Gonzales, 9/4/07)
CA9 Finds Conditional Parolee under INA §236(a) Ineligible for Adjustment of Status
The court held that a person who is conditionally paroled under INA §236(a) is not “paroled into the United States” for purposes of adjustment of status under INA §245(a). (Ortega-Cervantes v. Gonzales, 9/4/07)
CA2 Overturns "Persecutor of Others" Finding
The court held that there must be some evidence that Petitioner engaged in conduct that assisted in the persecution of another and that the link between Petitioner's activities and the arrest of any individual was too attenuated. (Gao v. Gonzales, 9/4/07)
Immigration Law Advisor, August 2007 (Vol. 1, No. 8)
Immigration Law Advisor with an article on circuit courts’ handling of equitable tolling of motions deadlines, federal court activity for July 2007, an article on what constitutes “persecution” versus “persecutor”, update on recent BIA precedent decisions, and a regulatory update.
CA2 Remands, Says BIA Erred in Evaluating Family-Based Social Group Claim
The court concluded that the IJ and BIA erred both in their incomplete characterization of Petitioner’s proposed social group and in their failure to evaluate her claim according to the Acosta standard. (Vumi v. Gonzales, 8/31/07)
CA9 Discusses Drug Trafficking as Particularly Serious Crime Bar to Withholding
CA9 held that the AG did not exceed his authority by creating a strong presumption that drug trafficking offenses constitute particularly serious crimes in Matter of Y-L-, but found that the BIA erred in applying Y-L- to a plea made prior to the decision. (Miguel-Miguel v. Gonzales, 8/29/07)
ICE Press Release on the Koch Foods Raid
An ICE Press Release on the Koch Foods raid in Fairfield, Ohio, stating that more than 160 employees were arrested for immigration violations as of 4 pm on August 28, 2007.
CA9 Finds Petitioner Eligible for Cancellation Based on Inconclusive Record of Conviction
The court found that in submitting a record of conviction that is inconclusive as to the exact nature of his conviction, Petitioner met his burden of proving that he was not convicted of an aggravated felony for purposes of cancellation of removal. (Sandoval-Lua v. Gonzales, 8/28/07)
CA9 Says INA §101(a)(13) May Not be Applied Retroactively to LPRs With Pre-IIRAIRA Guilty Pleas
The court held that IIRAIRA's new definition of “admission” abrogated the Fleuti doctrine, as derived from the former definition of “entry.” However, the new INA §101(a)(13) may not be applied retroactively to LPRs who pled guilty pre-IIRAIRA. (Camins v. Gonzales, 8/28/07)
CA9 Reverses IJ’s Determination that Asylum Seeker Must Prove Identity
The court held that INA §208(d)(5)(A) imposes duties on the AG and DOS to check the identities of asylum applicants and that there is no new burden on an asylum-seeker under this provision. (Kalouma v. Gonzales, 8/28/07)
ICE Issues Guidance for Juveniles Encountered During Fugitive Operations
ICE issued a memorandum providing clarification to the Office of Detention and Removal Operations Fugitive Operations Teams who encounter USC or LPR juveniles during the executive of enforcement initiatives targeting fugitive undocumented individuals.