Board of Immigration Appeals

Supreme Court Declines to Impose New Hurdle on Immigrants Appealing their Cases
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled last week that a transgender woman from Guatemala did not need to jump through an additional hoop—filing a new motion with the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)—before she could take her case to federal court to challenge her deportation order. The… 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

USCIS Restores Pathway to a Green Card for TPS Holders
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a new policy memorandum on July 1 that eliminated a barrier for many Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients and restored a pathway many have used to obtain a green card. It also provides beneficiaries with a process for traveling outside of the… Read More

The Board of Immigration Appeals Will Now Provide the Public with Access to Its Unpublished Decisions
Immigrants and their representatives will gain access to decisions of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) that were not publicly available. As a result of a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the Public Citizen Litigation Group on behalf of New York Legal Assistance Group, the BIA has agreed… Read More

Sinema and Cornyn Propose Changes to Asylum Processing at the Border
The current situation at the U.S.-Mexico border has once again exposed the flaws of our country’s asylum system. On April 22, Senators Kyrsten Sinema and John Cornyn and Representatives Tony Gonzales and Henry Cueller introduced a bipartisan, bicameral bill as an effort to alleviate some of the system’s greatest deficiencies. Read More

The Environmental and Cultural Risks of Resuming Border Wall Construction
A pause on border wall construction is set to expire on March 20, without an indication of what will happen next. President Biden signed a proclamation ordering the 60-day pause on his first day in office. Any future construction would compound the cultural and environmental damage that has already been… Read More

In a Win for Transparency, Court Orders Board of Immigration Appeals to Make Immigration Court Decisions Public
The Second Circuit has found that the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) must publish immigration decisions, reversing an earlier federal district court decision. The case challenged the Department of Justice’s longstanding practice of failing to publish immigration decisions by the BIA—the highest administrative court deciding immigration cases—in any… Read More

ICE Makes It Almost Impossible for People to Make Phone Calls from Detention Centers, Even in a Pandemic
Communication with the outside world is crucial for people in jail. This includes individuals facing deportation while detained in immigration detention centers, who do not have the right to court-appointed counsel. Having the ability to make a phone call in a detention center is essential for a variety of… Read More

Department of Justice Proposes New Limit to the Board of Immigration Appeals’ Power
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is proposing a range of measures that will limit the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) authority. The new rule—scheduled to be published on August 26—will make it harder for the BIA to independently make decisions and accelerates the removal of individuals from the United… Read More

USCIS Fee Hikes Will Go Into Effect for These Applications
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released an advance copy of a final rule on July 31 that will impose significant fee increases across many facets of the legal immigration system. These changes include an astronomical 80% increase to the cost of becoming a U.S. citizen and a first-time… Read More
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