Immigration Courts
Immigration courts play a crucial role in ensuring that immigration laws are applied fairly and consistently, providing due process to those facing removal. Learn more about issues facing the courts today and explore the actions we're taking to ensure the rights of immigrants are upheld and legal integrity is maintained.
Court Hears Challenge to Asylum Turnback
On October 13, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California will hear arguments in Al Otro Lado and Haitian Bridge Alliance v. Mayorkas, a federal lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s unlawful policy of turning back people seeking asylum without a CBP One appointment. Read More
What Does the Looming Government Shutdown Mean for Our Immigration System?
After weeks of failed negotiations on spending, Congress has less than a week left to avert a potential government shutdown. Members of the House Republicans’ Freedom Caucus have refused to pass any spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unless it contains HR2, their massive… Read More
New Immigration Court Rule Would Protect Critical Docket Management Tools and Rescind Trump-Era Changes
The Department of Justice has proposed a new rule to protect immigration judges’ ability to administratively close removal proceedings and control their ever-expanding dockets. The proposed rule, published on September 8, would also rescind most of the changes introduced by a 2020 Trump-era regulation, including shortened Board of Immigration… Read More
Newly Proposed Appellate Rule Would Overturn Trump-era Restrictions for Immigration Judges and Codify Judicial Discretion
On Thursday, the Biden administration proposed to rescind a Trump administration rule that stripped authority from immigration judges to manage their own dockets; here is our response. Read More
What Is the Law? Under New Immigration Decision, the Answer Isn’t Always Clear
Written by Emma Winger and Raul Pinto of the American Immigration Council The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) published a decision last week seeking to address a seemingly basic question: what law should an immigration judge apply when deciding the case of a noncitizen facing removal? In a time… Read More
Immigration Agencies Violate FOIA, Harming Immigrants and Government Transparency Alike
Immigration agencies have a problem with transparency. With an immigration system as complex as ours and Freedom of Information Act offices that are chronically underfunded, it’s no surprise that immigration agencies violate FOIA—a statute created to strengthen our democracy by helping regular citizens understand what the government is up to—by… Read More
71% of Immigrants Win Their Cases Thanks to Pro Bono Volunteers with the Immigration Justice Campaign
Every year at the end of October, legal service providers come together to celebrate Pro Bono Week. It is a dedicated opportunity to acknowledge the amazing work that our volunteers do—work that is the foundation of the American Immigration Council’s Immigration Justice Campaign. In an immigration system that is… Read More
Legal Organizations Sue ICE for Illegally Preventing Attorneys from Communicating with Detained Immigrants in Four States
Several legal services organizations filed a lawsuit today against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for unlawfully preventing attorneys from communicating with immigrants detained in four detention facilities in Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Arizona. Read More
What Does Legal Representation Look Like in Immigration Courts Across the Country?
Written by Emily Creighton of the American Immigration Council and Jennifer Whitlock of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. It might seem like a straightforward statistic: 44% of individuals who appear in deportation proceedings have an immigration attorney. But it’s not so simple. Instead, it is a number that must factor… Read More
New Report Reveals Widespread Failures by DHS To Prosecute Immigration Court Cases
Thousands of immigration court cases have been dismissed this year for an astonishing reason: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has failed to file the most basic paperwork with the courts. According to a report released last week by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) of Syracuse University, tens… Read More
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