Due Process and the Courts

Our legal system rests upon the principle that everyone is entitled to due process of law and a meaningful opportunity to be heard. But for far too long, the immigration system has failed to provide noncitizens with a system of justice that lives up to this standard. Learn about ways in which the immigration system could ensure that all noncitizens have a fair day in court.  

Recent Features

  • FOIA

Investigating the Immigration Court System

We're demanding information to uncover the hiring process for Assistant Chief Immigration Judge and their influence over the immigration courts.

Two Systems of Justice: How the Immigration System Falls Short of American Ideals of Justice

This special report lays out the the incongruency between America's criminal justice system and its immigration justice system, and provides recommendations for how these problems could be fixed.

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All Due Process and the Courts Content

  • Blog

Immigration Judges Are Rejecting More Asylum Requests Under the Trump Administration

August 7, 2018

The Trump administration is working hard to undermine the asylum system through additional and unnecessary barriers, making it more difficult for those seeking refuge in the United States to be...

  • Blog

Judge Orders A Full Restart of DACA, but Its Future Remains Uncertain

August 6, 2018

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to restart the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative by August 23. This ruling in the D.C. District Court comes just...

  • Blog

Federal Audit Outlines Lasting Impacts of Trump’s Executive Orders on Immigration

July 16, 2018

President Trump wasted no time after assuming office in signing three executive orders which fundamentally changed the nature of immigration enforcement in the United States: Border Security and...

  • Blog

USCIS Is Slowly Being Morphed Into an Immigration Enforcement Agency

July 9, 2018

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued new guidance to initiate deportation proceedings for thousands of applicants denied for any immigration benefit. This policy change will...

  • Blog

Immigration Courts Are Rolling out an Electronic Filing Pilot Program in July

July 6, 2018

The immigration court system will begin to roll out an electronic filing pilot program in six immigration courts on July 16 this year, representing an important advancement for these courts that...

  • Blog

Supreme Court Decision May Make Some Eligible for Relief From Deportation

June 29, 2018

In an 8-1 decision on June 21, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of an individual previously prevented from applying for a type of relief from deportation known as cancellation of removal. In...

  • Blog

Supreme Court Upholds President Trump’s Muslim Ban

June 26, 2018

The Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated decision in Trump v. Hawaii on Tuesday, upholding the third iteration of the president’s Muslim Ban. The decision by the closely divided court, which...

  • Blog

Sessions Ends Administrative Closure at the Expense of Due Process in Immigration Court

May 18, 2018

Altering decades of practice in immigration court and placing immense pressure on an overburdened immigration court system, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a decision in an immigration case...

  • Blog

Here’s What Happened Inside the Supreme Court During the Travel Ban Arguments

April 26, 2018

The Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in Trump v. Hawaii, one of several cases challenging President Trump’s third travel ban. After two earlier travel bans were partially or fully struck...

  • Blog

Justice Department Will Not Halt Legal Orientation Program for Detained Immigrants, Reversing Course for Now

April 25, 2018

Just two weeks after the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a suspension of the Legal Orientation Program (LOP), Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified today that DOJ will reverse course and...

  • Blog

It’s Time to Close the Immigration Courts

April 1, 2020

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads and entire states go into quarantine, immigrants and their attorneys are still being forced to gather in cramped immigration courtrooms inside detention...

  • Litigation

Stopping Policies Endangering Immigration Attorneys, Clients, and the Public During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Council filed a lawsuit to close the immigration courts and ensure due process.
  • Press Release

Lawsuit Seeks to Uncover Problematic Board of Immigration Appeals’ Hiring Procedures

March 19, 2020
The American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court to compel the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy to release records about the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s hiring procedures for appellate immigration judges and Board of Immigration Appeals Members. The lawsuit seeks to understand current hiring procedures for the BIA—the highest administrative body for interpreting and applying immigration laws—after reports came to light of anti-immigrant bias in the hiring process.
  • Blog

The Department of Justice is Restructuring Immigration Courts in Secret

March 17, 2020

The Trump administration has steadily implemented initiatives to restructure the immigration court system without providing much information to the public. The lack of government transparency...

  • FOIA

FOIA Request Seeks Information About the Secretive Expansion of Immigration Courts

The American Immigration Council filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) seeking information relating to the expansion and...

  • Blog

Judge Voids USCIS Asylum Policies Because Ken Cuccinelli Wasn’t Appointed Legally

March 3, 2020

The Trump administration suffered another blow on Sunday, when a federal judge in Washington D.C. ruled that Ken Cuccinelli was unlawfully appointed to the role of acting director of U.S....

  • Blog

Supreme Court Rules Parents of Slain Teenager Can’t Sue Border Patrol Agent Responsible for His Death

March 2, 2020

The Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit seeking damages from a U.S. Border Patrol agent who shot and killed a teenager across the U.S.-Mexico border. With this latest decision in the...

  • Blog

Judge Stops DHS From Arresting US Citizens’ Foreign Spouses During Marriage Interviews in Maryland

February 21, 2020

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been targeting U.S. citizens’ foreign spouses when they apply for legal immigration status. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Maryland put a...

  • Blog

How Will Conditions in Border Patrol Facilities Change Now That a Judge Has Ruled Them Unconstitutional?

February 20, 2020

A federal court found on Wednesday that U.S. Border Patrol may not detain migrants held in its facilities in Arizona’s Tucson Sector longer than 48 hours without providing for their “basic human...

  • Blog

These Humanitarian Aid Workers’ Convictions Were Overturned. Here’s How It Sets Precedent for Future Protection.

February 13, 2020

A federal judge in Arizona reversed convictions of four volunteers of the humanitarian aid group No More Deaths last week. No More Deaths is an Arizona-based group that works to end death and...

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