The Sixth Circuit issued an interesting decision today on the issue of false statements in asylum applications and the "frivolousness" bar to asylum. The case is Yousif v. Lynch and involves a decision denying asylum to a person who was otherwise-eligible because the...
In a precedent decision on March 27, 2014, the Board has held in Matter of C-J-H- that a person whose status has been adjusted from asylee to lawful permanent resident cannot subsequently readjust status under section 209(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8...
In two new companion cases (Matter of M-E-V-G- and Matter of W-G-R-) about asylum for individuals afraid of persecution "on account of" their membership in a particular social group, the BIA has done away with the term "social visibility" and replaced it with "social...
If you filed for asylum in immigration court without an attorney and are now appealing to the BIA, it’s worth asking: did the Immigration Judge give you a list of free legal service providers? A recent Board of Immigration Appeals decision, Matter of K-O- (Aug. 27,...
On the issue of "firm resettlement," one of the grounds for denying asylum to an otherwise-eligible applicant, the BIA has been less than clear. Basically, if a person comes to the United States to apply for asylum from Country X, but in the interim they already...
The Supreme Court's decision in Judulang v. Holder has broader implications than those listed in the decision. While the decision clearly rejects the agency's interpretation of the "comparable grounds" test for 212(c) waiver eligibility, the real lesson form...