Last week, the Board decided Matter of A-V-O-, 30 I.&N. Dec. 44 (BIA 2026), and overruled Matter of Kanga, 22 I&N Dec. 1206 (BIA 2000). The new rule claims to be a result of just reading the plain language of the statute, but it does the exact opposite. And by...
The Board of Immigration Appeals’ new decision in Matter of P-A-C- should alarm anyone who still believes asylum exists as a meaningful form of protection in the United States. The Board held that a grant of withholding of removal is an “important consideration” in...
On May 8, 2026, the Board of Immigration Appeals issued another precedential decision attacking gender-based asylum claims: Matter of V-A-B-. I just finished reading it, but here is what I take from it - and where I think the litigation is now headed. By itself, the...
The BIA has done it again. At first glance, Matter of Mercado-Martinez looks like a boring, technical decision. The Board repeats the usual rule: the government has the burden to prove you’re not a U.S. citizen. And one of the main ways it tries to do that is with a...
When the BIA's Interpretation of the Word "Admission" Depends on Who Needs It. I wanted to take some time to write about the BIA's sea change of a decision yesterday in Matter of Forjoe, 29 I&N Dec. 463 (BIA 2026). In that decision, Board member Hunsucker, writing...
Today, January 14, 2026, news broke that the State Department has frozen immigrant visa processing for nationals of dozens of countries at U.S. embassies and consulates abroad. Many headlines are calling this a new “travel ban.” Since there are already at least two...
A federal judge in Kansas today ordered ICE to comply with its own detention regulations after finding that the agency unlawfully skipped the required due process in June 2025 when it re-detained our client who had been living under supervision for years. The case...
Earlier this month the acting head of EOIR published a policy memo on the use of AI by the private bar which mentioned a previously unkown EOIR policy about internal use. I had to see what it said, so I filed a FOIA request. And, today I got the policy. It's an...
In August 2025, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) quietly issued Policy Memorandum 25-41, expanding its so-called “Dedicated Dockets” nationwide. This program began under President Biden in 2021 as an attempt to expedite asylum and deportation cases...
On August 8, 2025, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) issued Policy Memorandum 25-40 on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in EOIR Proceedings. It is the agency’s first public policy statement aimed squarely at regulating how AI should and...