Felipe de la Hoz, The Nation, June 30, 2020 "The Board of Immigration Appeals, once an impartial appellate court, has become a new front in the Trump administration’s war against migrants." Read More

Supreme Court Reverses 8th Circuit in Mellouli Case | By a 7-2 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for the noncitizen in Mellouli v. Lynch , reversing the Eighth Circuit. The decision is summarized at page 641 [ enhanced opinion available to lexis.com... Read More

Administration Faces Criticism, Lawsuit After Revising October Visa Bulletin | The Department of State and Department of Homeland Security faced extensive criticism and a federal lawsuit after revising the October visa bulletin less than a week before... Read More

BIA Will Solicit Amicus Briefs | On June 19, 2015, the Executive Office for Immigration Review announced that the Board of Immigration Appeals has launched a one-year pilot program to solicit amicus briefs from interested parties. The Board will post... Read More

USCIS Finishes Data Entry for Cap-Subject H-1B FY17 Applications | USCIS announced on May 2 that it has finished data entry for cap-subject H-1B petitions. It will begin returning those not chosen in the lottery. Some petitions are being transferred... Read More

Supreme Court Decides CSPA Case | On June 9, 2014, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Scialabba v. Cuellar de Osorio , 2014 U.S. LEXIS 3991 [ enhanced opinion available to lexis.com subscribers ]. The Court held that the BIA’s textually... Read More

Napolitano Resigns as Secretary of Homeland Security On July 12, 2013, Janet Napolitano announced her resignation as Secretary of Homeland Security, a position she has held since the start of the Obama administration. Napolitano will remain in her... Read More

EOIR Releases Statistics for FY2012 The Executive Office for Immigration Review has released its statistical yearbook for fiscal 2012. As expected, the backlog of cases before EOIR continued to grow, with 326,255 pending proceedings before immigration... Read More

BIA Seeks Amicus Briefs on Effect of Moncrieffe on 3rd Circuit Case | On August 26, 2015, the BIA issued a notice requesting amicus briefs regarding whether Jeune v. Attorney General of the United States , 476 F.3d 199 (3d Cir. 2007) [ enhanced opinion... Read More

By David Froman Holding a key provision of the CSPA unambiguous, the Ninth Circuit, en banc , approved the two-petition approach for aged-out derivative beneficiaries of family preference petitions. "Vertical" conversion offers a viable alternative... Read More

USCIS Issues New Guidelines on Credible Fear Interviews On February 28, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued new guidelines for asylum officers charged with determining whether applicants possess credible fears of persecution or torture... Read More

USCIS Clarifies “Reason to Believe” Standard for I-601A Provisional Waivers | On March 18, 2014, USCIS sent an e-mail to stakeholders seeking to cure confusion surrounding the regulation that prohibits the granting of provisional waivers... Read More

EOIR Revises Docket Priorities | On February 3, 2016, Chief Immigration Judge Print Maggard issued a memorandum revising certain docket priorities for the Executive Office for Immigration Review. In cases involving unaccompanied minors, immigration... Read More

By Jill Apa | The issue in Mata v. Lynch is whether circuit courts can review a BIA decision denying a late motion to reopen removal proceedings based on an allegation of ineffective assistance of counsel. The Fifth Circuit had said no, disagreeing... Read More

Scialabba v. Cuellar de Osorio, 2014 U.S. LEXIS 3991 (June 9, 2014) : The BIA’s textually reasonable construction of the Child Status Protection Act’s ambiguous language was entitled to deference, meaning that an aged-out “child”... Read More