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.
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
Comment on Procedures for Credible Fear Screening and Consideration of Asylum
The Council submitted a comment urging the Biden administration to reconsider the expedited timeframe in the interim final rule that will significantly hinder asylum seeker access to due process. Read More
Comments Recommend USCIS Clarify FOIA Request Process
The Council submitted comments on USCIS suggested changes to Form G-639 and Instructions. The G-639 Form and Instructions are used to submit FOIA requests to USCIS by mail. Read More
Council Seeks Information About Access to Immigration Records in Removal Proceedings
This Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeks information about the immigration courts' implementation of the Dent v. Holder decision and how ICE is complying. Read More
I Visited Biden’s MPP Tent Courts. The Changes Since Trump Don’t Fix the Program’s Flaws.
More than two years after visiting the Trump administration’s “Migrant Protection Protocols” (MPP) tent courts in Laredo, Texas, I returned to see how they had changed under the Biden administration. While some changes have been made, they haven’t resolved the program’s biggest flaws, such as the danger asylum… Read More
ICE’s New Guidance to Government Attorneys Aims to Reduce Immigration Court Backlog
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a long-awaited memo on Sunday to guide ICE attorneys on exercising their prosecutorial discretion in immigration court. Authored by ICE’s Principal Legal Advisor Kerry Doyle, the memo’s stated goal is to ensure that ICE focuses its limited resources effectively and pursues… Read More
Investigating the Immigration Court System
This Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeks to uncover information about the hiring process for the position of Assistant Chief Immigration Judge (ACIJ) and the influence of these judges over the immigration courts. 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
Immigration Court Comes Into the 21st Century with Electronic Filing for Attorneys
Immigration courts will soon take a big step into the digital age. On February 11, 2022, immigration attorneys, accredited representatives, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lawyers, will be required to electronically file immigration court paperwork in new immigration cases. This update won’t make the immigration court system fully paperless. Read More
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