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
CA7 Finds IJ Ignored Evidence that Motive for Persecution Was Religion
CA7 found that the IJ’s conclusion that Petitioner was not persecuted because of religion ignored the factual context in which the death threats and assaults occurred, and held that Petitioner, an Egyptian Coptic Christian, was persecuted because of his religion.(Boctor v. Gonzales, 1/24/07)
CA1 Finds No Well-Founded Fear, but Holds IJ Erred in Excluding Evidence
The court found that the IJ erred in rejecting two documents solely because they were not in conformity with the authentication regulation, where the regulation was not applicable because the documents were not official records. (Jiang v. Gonzales, 1/23/07)
CA5 Remands for Determination of Reliance on Continued Availability of §212(c) Relief
The court remanded the case to the BIA to determine whether Petitioner affirmatively decided to postpone her §212(c) application to increase her chances of success and therefore, reasonably relied on the continued availability of §212(c) relief. (Carranza-De Salinas v. Gonzales, 1/23/07)
CA9 Refuses to Equitably Toll the Filing Deadline for Untimely Motion to Reopen
The court found that Petitioner did not act diligently by delaying the filing of a motion to reopen until he had received the response to his request to join in the motion. The court held that equitable tolling of the deadline was not warranted. (Valeriano v. Gonzales, 1/23/07)
CA10 Overturns Adverse Credibility Finding in Mauritanian Asylum Claim
The court determined that it would only impute the IJ’s reasoning to the BIA if the BIA incorporated it expressly or by implication. The court held that the adverse credibility determination was not supported by substantial evidence. (Sarr v. Gonzales, 1/22/07)
CA2 Finds No Abuse of Discretion in Refusal to Rescind In Absentia Order
The court found that Petitioner’s uncorroborated affidavit of non-receipt containing a material misstatement of fact was insufficient to overcome the presumption of receipt of his hearing notice. (Bhanot v. Chertoff, 1/22/07)
CA7 Finds BIA Abused its Discretion in Denying MTR Ethiopian Asylum Case
The court found that the evidence submitted by Petitioner post dated his IJ hearing and the BIA’s ruling and was material to his claim. The court held that the BIA should have responded to the significant, material evidence submitted with his motion to reopen. (Kebe v. Gonzales, 1/19/07)
ICE Amends Regulations for Certain Detained Aliens Prior to Order of Removal
ICE final rule updates the list of countries at 8 C.F.R. 236.1(e), which requires immediate communication with consular or diplomatic officers when nationals of the listed countries are detained in the U.S. (72 FR 1923, 1/17/07)
Supreme Court Holds that “Theft Offense” Includes the Crime of “Aiding and Abetting”
The Supreme Court found that a person who aids or abets a theft falls within the scope of the generic definition of theft and may be removable for having been convicted of an aggravated felony. (Gonzales v. Duenas-Alvarez, 1/17/07)
Update on NSEERS Advocacy
Summary of recent advocacy efforts by community-based organizations to end Special Registration. Courtesy of the National Immigration Forum.
Aytes Memo on Adjustment by Arriving Aliens in Removal Proceedings
Memorandum from Michael Aytes, Associate Director, Domestic Operations, provides guidance on implementation of the interim rule (71 FR 27585, 5/12/06) on applications for adjustment of status by arriving aliens in removal proceedings.
CA7 Overturns Holding that Bangladeshis Had Not Suffered Past Persecution
The court found that the IJ erred in concluding that the harm Petitioner and his family suffered at the hands of Muslim fundamentalists did not amount to past persecution. The court could not tell what definition of persecution the IJ used. (Gomes v. Gonzales, 1/11/07)
CA7 Finds IJ Ignored Significant Piece of Evidence re: Well-Founded Fear
The court found that the IJ ignored the most significant piece of evidence in finding that Petitioner lacked a well-founded fear, namely that the persecuting authorities believed that Petitioner was his identical twin brother.(Mema v. Gonzales, 1/11/07)
CA7 Rejects Retroactivity Argument Regarding §212(c)’s “Statutory Counterpart” Rule
The court found that 8 CFR §1212.3(f)(5), which allows deportees to invoke §212(c) if their deportable crime has a statutory counterpart to a ground of inadmissibility in §212(a), and Matter of Blake, were not impermissibly retroactive. (Valere v. Gonzales, 1/11/07)
ICE Detention Standards Violation Complaint Process
Information regarding the process for submitting complaints to ICE and DHS on conditions in alien detention facilities, prepared by the national CBOs' DHS Enforcement and Civil Rights/Liberties Committees, the ABA and the National Immigration Justice Center.
CA9 Finds “Other Resistance” in CPC Cases Does Not Require Motivation Proof
The court found that to fit within “other resistance to a coercive population control" (CPC), an applicant must show that the government was enforcing a CPC program and the applicant resisted the program. (Lin v. Gonzales, 1/9/07)
CA3 Joins Other Circuits in Rejecting BIA’s Matter of S-V- CAT Decision
The court rejected the BIA’s conclusion that acquiescence of a public official requires actual knowledge of the tortuous activity and that it is sufficient to show that the government is “willfully blind” to the activity. (Silva-Rengifo v. Gonzales, 1/9/07)
CA9 Allows Motion to Reopen Filed After Removal and Illegal Reentry
The court held that 8 CFR §1003.23(b)(1), which precludes a person who is “the subject of” proceedings from filing a motion to reopen after departing the U.S., did not bar Petitioner’s motion after he was removed and reentered illegally. (Lin v. Gonzales, 1/5/07)
U.S. District Court Holds No Standing to Sue for Use of NCIC Data to Arrest Immigration Violators
A New York District Court held that Plaintiffs had no standing to sue over local and state law enforcement’s use of NCIC data to arrest individuals for immigration violations. (Nat'l Council of La Raza v. Gonzalez, 1/5/07)
CA5 Reverses IJ’s Determination That Petitioner’s Asylum Application Was Untimely
CA5 rejected the IJ’s finding that the §208.4(a)(2)(ii) provision that an asylum application received after the 1-year deadline is deemed timely filed if the application was mailed within 1 year, only applies to applications never received by the agency. (Nakimbugwe v. Gonzales, 1/5/07)
CA7 Upholds Admission of Embassy and Forensic Reports in Asylum Claim
The court noted that the sole test for admissibility of evidence is whether it is probative and its admission fundamentally fair. (Doumbia v. Gonzales, 1/4/07)
CA2 Refuses to Accord Chevron Deference to BIA Single-Member Nonprecedential Decision
The court remanded to the BIA for a precedential opinion on the definition of “lawfully resided continuously” for purposes of a waiver of inadmissibility under INA §212(h). (Rotimi v. Gonzales, 1/3/07)
CA9 Finds Jurisdiction to Review Withholding and CAT Claim despite CIMT
The court rejected the government’s argument that the AG has absolute discretion in determining whether any crime is a “particularly serious crime,” finding that Petitioner had presented a question of law with regard to his withholding and CAT claims. (Morales v. Gonzales, 1/3/07)
ICE’s Family Residential Standards (2007)
A 2007 version of ICE’s Family Residential Standards.
Immigration Law Today-Jan/Feb 2007
The Jan/Feb 2007 issue of Immigration Law Today focuses on global migration covering laws in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, plus PERM and pro bono from the clients’ perspectives.