March 23, 2024

CA1 on Social Group: Ferreira v. Garland

Ferreira v. Garland "Pamlar Ferreira petitions for review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") upholding the denial of her application for withholding of removal. Ferreira requests that we remand the case so that the BIA may consider anew whether withholding is appropriate on the basis of her two asserted particular social groups: "family" and "Trinidadian women who...

March 22, 2024

TPS Extended for Burma (Myanmar)

DHS, Mar. 22, 2024 "Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas today announced the extension and redesignation of Burma for Temporary Protected Status for 18 months, from May 26, 2024, to November 25, 2025, due to extraordinary and temporary conditions in Burma that prevent individuals from safely returning. The corresponding Federal Register notice provides information about how to register as a new...

March 21, 2024

USCIS Policy Alert: Clarifying Expedite Requests

USCIS, Mar. 21, 2024 "U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is updating policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to clarify how USCIS considers expedite requests related to government interests and requests related to emergencies and urgent humanitarian situations. This update also clarifies how to make an expedite request and explains how USCIS processes expedite requests." [See also these...

March 19, 2024

Loyola Law Prof. Homero Lopez Joins BIA

Loyola, Mar. 12, 2024 "Adjunct Law Professor Homero Lopez has been appointed to the Board of Immigration Appeals, the top administrative appellate agency to review immigration court decisions in the United States! Judge Lopez will start considering appeals on April 1st!"

March 19, 2024

Supreme Court on Jurisdiction, Hardship: Wilkinson v. Garland

Wilkinson v. Garland "This Court now holds that the application of the exceptional and extremely unusual hardship standard to a given set of facts is reviewable as a question of law under §1252(a)(2)(D). ... The hardship determination in this case was not discretionary. Because the IJ held that M.’s hardship did not satisfy the statutory eligibility criteria, he never reached the second step and exercised...

March 19, 2024

CA6 on Nexus, Social Group: Vasquez-Rivera v. Garland

Vasquez-Rivera v. Garland "Here, the BIA attributed analysis to the IJ that the IJ never undertook. Finding that none of Vasquez-Rivera’s proposed social groups were cognizable, the IJ concluded that her asylum claims failed. With respect to Vasquez-Rivera’s family in particular, the IJ found that Vasquez-Rivera “did not establish that her family was or will be identified as a distinct group.”...

March 17, 2024

Varela-Chavarria Round Table Amicus Brief

Here is the Nov. 9, 2023 CA1 decision at issue, 86 F.4th 443. Here is the Round Table's Amicus Brief. Nutshell: "We write to provide the Court with additional context regarding the importance of the IJ’s duty to adequately develop the record as to which PSGs are claimed, and the extensive authority confirming that such a duty exists."

March 16, 2024

CA4 on Particularly Serious Crime: Annor v. Garland

Annor v. Garland "David Annor, a citizen of Ghana and a lawful permanent resident of the United States, used his business to funnel the proceeds of a “romance fraud scheme” to militiamen in Ghana. After Annor pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) placed him in removal proceedings, where he applied for withholding of...

March 14, 2024

BIA on Evidence, Social Group, El Salvador: Matter of F-C-S-

Matter of F-C-S- "Regarding the respondent’s two remaining proposed particular social groups, we will remand to the Immigration Judge for further development of the record. The Immigration Judge’s decision contains conflicting legal conclusions about the validity of these proposed particular social groups and is otherwise incomplete as to the remaining elements of the claim for withholding of removal...

March 14, 2024

Another SB4 Challenge: LUPE v. Abbott

MALDEF, Mar. 12, 2024 "Texas residents and a local nonprofit organization are challenging the state’s new anti-immigrant law, known as S.B. 4, in federal court as unconstitutional. MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) and the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of border-based nonprofit community organization La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE)...

March 14, 2024

BIA Job Opening, Falls Church - UPDATED

New closing date: April 12, 2024 USAJOBS Open & closing dates: 03/13/2024 to 04/212/2024 Salary: $156,924 - $204,000 per year 1 vacancy in the following location: Falls Church, VA

March 13, 2024

Credible Fear Procedures Manual

Thanks to a FOIA request by David Cleveland , we now have the May 10, 2023 revision of the USCIS Credible Fear Procedures Manual available to us.

March 11, 2024

DHS Provides Relief for Some Venezuelan F-1 Students

Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 48 / Monday, March 11, 2024 "This notice announces that the Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) is suspending certain regulatory requirements for F–1 nonimmigrant students whose country of citizenship is Venezuela, regardless of country of birth (or individuals having no nationality who last habitually resided in Venezuela), and who are experiencing severe economic hardship...

March 11, 2024

CA9 (2-1) on Credibility, Evidence: Kalulu v. Garland

Kalulu v. Garland "This court grants a petition for review of an agency denial of asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT relief only under the most extraordinary circumstances. See Gutierrez-Alm, 62 F.4th at 1194; Sharma v. Garland, 9 F.4th 1052, 1060 (9th Cir. 2021). This is one of those rare instances. For the reasons discussed above, the agency’s adverse credibility determination is amply supported by...

March 09, 2024

States Lack Standing to Challenge Parole Program: Texas v. DHS

Texas v. DHS "[T]he record establishes that the number of CHNV nationals entering the United States since the Program’s implementation has dramatically decreased by as much as 44 percent. Plaintiffs, therefore, are unable to demonstrate that they have been injured by the Program, and as a result, they lack standing to bring these claims. ... The Court finds that Plaintiffs have not proven that Texas has suffered...

March 09, 2024

April 2024 Visa Bulletin

April 2024 Visa Bulletin

March 05, 2024

Supreme Court Temporarily Stays SB 4

Justice Alito's orders are here and here .

March 04, 2024

SB 4 On Fast Track to SCOTUS - UPDATED

Here is the CA5 "administrative stay" order, and here is the DOJ APPLICATION TO VACATE STAY OF PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION ISSUED BY THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT.

March 01, 2024

Material Support Victory in MN: Fofana v. Mayorkas

Fofana v. Mayorkas "Nearly sixteen years after Plaintiff Abrahim Mohamed Fofana applied for adjustment of status, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) denied his petition. But even with that much time to review Fofana’s materials, USCIS reached an untenably flawed decision. It misinterpreted the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”). And it failed to consider...

March 01, 2024

Exchange Visitor Program Notice: Austria

Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 42 / Friday, March 1, 2024 / Notices "SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Visitor Program (EVP) regulations, the Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), U.S. Department of State, has modified certain regulatory provisions to permit Austrian dual/ vocational education students or recent graduates of such programs to participate in internship...

February 29, 2024

Court Enjoins Texas SB 4: US v. Texas

ACLU, Feb. 29, 2024 "The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas today granted a motion for preliminary injunction to block Texas Senate Bill 4 (88-4), which would permit local and state law enforcement to arrest, detain, and remove people they suspect to have entered Texas from another country without federal authorization. The legislation is one of the most extreme anti-immigrant laws ever...

February 28, 2024

E-File Your G-28 With ICE

ICE "ERO eFile is an online system developed to electronically file G-28s with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). Attorneys and accredited representatives may register for ERO eFile accounts and may also sponsor law students and law graduates who work under their supervision. ERO eFile cannot be used to file G-28s with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services...

February 27, 2024

CA7 on Reinstatement, Jurisdiction, Standard of Review: F.J.A.P. v. Garland

F.J.A.P. v. Garland "Based on the statutory language, structure, and context of § 1252, we conclude that a reinstated order of removal is not final for purposes of judicial review until the agency has completed withholding proceedings. Only when those proceedings conclude, if the noncitizen is eligible for that review, has the agency finalized all mandatory review and “fully determined” the noncitizen’s...

February 27, 2024

Unpub. CA2 Remand: Berhe v. Garland

Berhe v. Garland "Berhe asserted that the Eritrean military detained and beat him because he complained about conditions during his mandatory military service and because of his perceived anti-government political opinion. The agency’s adverse credibility determination is not supported by substantial evidence. ... Respondent’s motion to transfer venue is DENIED, the petition for review is GRANTED, the...

February 27, 2024

Unpub. CA2 Remand: Gao v. Garland

Gao v. Garland "The IJ’s conclusion that Gao failed to meet her burden of proof is based on the lack of sufficient corroborating evidence. As mentioned above, where, as here, the petitioner’s testimony is deemed credible, but the IJ finds that additional corroborating evidence is necessary to satisfy the burden of proof, the IJ is required to “(1) point to specific pieces of missing evidence and...