Immigration Courts

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Empty Benches: Underfunding of Immigration Courts Undermines Justice

Backlogs and delays benefit neither immigrants nor the government—keeping those with valid claims in limbo and often in detention, delaying removal of those without valid claims, and calling into question the integrity of the immigration justice system.

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All Immigration Courts Content

  • Blog

D.C. Circuit Hears Case Seeking Records Regarding Immigration Judge Misconduct

February 23, 2016

Last Tuesday, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in a case filed by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), which seeks the disclosure of...

  • Blog

D.C. Circuit Hears Case Seeking Records Regarding Immigration Judge Misconduct

February 23, 2016

Last Tuesday, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in a case filed by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), which seeks the disclosure of...

  • Blog

Court Says Class Action Challenging Abusive Conditions in Hieleras Can Move Forward

January 13, 2016

A federal court in Tucson, Arizona held that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) must answer allegations of horrific conditions experienced by...

  • Blog

Second Circuit Requires Government to Notify Affected Parties Prior to Visa Petition Revocation

January 8, 2016

In a breakthrough decision issued at the end of last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which sits in New York City, ruled that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (...

  • Blog

Operation Streamline: Ten Years of Criminalizing Immigrants

December 15, 2015

For the last 10 years, in federal courts across the Southwest border, the federal government has systematically prosecuted unlawful border crossers in group hearings with little-to-no due process...

  • Blog

Giving the Immigration Facts a Fighting Chance

December 14, 2015

As we move through the 2016 presidential election cycle, the issue of immigration will continue to be a central topic of the debate. The United States is at a tipping point after more than two...

  • Blog

Diverse Coalitions Urge Supreme Court to Hear Case on Executive Action

December 11, 2015

Seven groups have filed amicus briefs in support of a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court in United States v. Texas, requesting that the Court overturn the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals...

  • Blog

Texas Sues Federal Government Again, This Time Over Refugees

December 4, 2015

This week, Texas filed a lawsuit against the federal government and International Rescue Committee (IRC) to prevent the resettlement of a Syrian refugee family in the state. The family was...

  • Blog

Will the Immigration Court Backlog Finally Go Down?

December 3, 2015

Although our nation’s immigration courts currently have record backlogs, there may be some help on the way. That was the message from Juan Osuna, Director of the Executive Office of Immigration...

  • Blog

The Battle Over Birth Certificates in Texas

October 20, 2015

In May, a group of undocumented parents, represented by South Texas Civil Rights Project and Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas for denying their children, born...

  • 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

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

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

Department of Justice Ignores Its Own Evaluators’ Recommendations on Immigration Courts

April 23, 2018

A newly-released document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) shows that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is making radical changes to the immigration court system that...

  • FOIA

Immigration Judge Performance Quotas FOIA Request

The American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)—the...

  • Blog

The Justice Department Is Halting Its Legal Advice Program for Detained Immigrants

April 11, 2018

In its latest attack on due process and access to counsel in the immigration court system, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) has decided to suspend its Legal Orientation Program (...

  • Press Release

DOJ Cuts Immigrants’ Access to Counsel in Latest Attack on Due Process

April 11, 2018
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), part of the Department of Justice (DOJ), announced its intention to cancel the Legal Orientation Program (LOP) despite its immensely positive impact on judicial efficiency and fundamental fairness, and Congress’ express instruction to continue such programming, along with the provision of funding in the fiscal year 2018 appropriations bill, recently signed by the president.

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