by Matthew Hoppock | Oct 12, 2021 | Immigration |
For the last four years, we’ve been using the Freedom of Information Act to request records describing the policies and procedures that govern the processing of appeals and motions to reopen at the Board of Immigration Appeals and the Immigration Courts. One...
by Matthew Hoppock | Nov 5, 2019 | FOIA, Immigration, Immigration Practice |
We should have seen it coming. In 2018 the Attorney General ended the ability of immigration judges to administratively close cases, concluding they had in fact never had such authority. As shocking as that was at the time, we’re now seeing pieces of that puzzle...
by Matthew Hoppock | Apr 24, 2019 | Immigration |
I’m writing to share more FOIA records we’ve received from the BIA. For the last year we’ve been working on obtaining records through FOIA to better understand how the Board of Immigration Appeals works from top to bottom. The thought is that with...
by Matthew Hoppock | Apr 24, 2019 | Immigration |
I’m sharing a series of research tools we received today in response to a FOIA request submitted in May, 2018: DOJ Libraries – Public Records GuideDownload DOJ Libraries – Court DocketsDownload DOJ Libraries – Asset SearchingDownload DOJ...
by Matthew Hoppock | Apr 5, 2019 | Immigration |
In September, 2018 the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) started producing this publication called the “EOIR Morning Briefing.” They’re not quite daily and they look like a collection of news stories. But there’s more. Rather than...
by Matthew Hoppock | Aug 21, 2018 | FOIA, Immigration, Immigration Practice |
Every summer the Immigration Judges from around the country meet in suburban Washington D.C. for a training session. The training materials are interesting, because they help us understand the IJs’ thinking on specific issues. The 2018 conference was held at the...
by Matthew Hoppock | May 31, 2018 | FOIA |
Without any explanation, the Department of Justice stopped posting its “Immigration Litigation Bulletin” online in mid-2016. The older versions are online here. The Immigration Litigation Bulletin is a publication by the Department of Justice’s...
by Matthew Hoppock | Mar 1, 2017 | Immigration, Immigration Practice |
Much of our work as Immigration Attorneys involves researching our clients’ pasts. Often to figure out how I can help a client in the future, I need to know what their history looks like. That research might include criminal records. It might include old divorce...
by Matthew Hoppock | Jan 23, 2017 | FOIA, Immigration |
Here’s something fun. Today I received in the mail a response to several FOIA requests I had made. The package contained two previously secret litigation “field guides” for Department of Justice attorneys. I’ll be receiving more and will post...
by Matthew Hoppock | Sep 2, 2015 | FOIA, Immigration |
In litigation over whether the Department of Homeland Security complied with its obligations under the FOIA, the Seventh Circuit this week found that the agency had fallen short in David Rubman v. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services et al. The effect of this...
by Matthew Hoppock | Aug 7, 2015 | FOIA, Immigration |
Everyone knows a job is much easier with the right tools. Right? It’s no different with immigration. In immigration court cases, sometimes the biggest hurdles can be cleared by figuring out the right tools to solve the problem. In almost every case an early...
