Immigration Courts
Immigration courts play a crucial role in ensuring that immigration laws are applied fairly and consistently, providing due process to those facing removal. Learn more about issues facing the courts today and explore the actions we're taking to ensure the rights of immigrants are upheld and legal integrity is maintained.
Defending the Constitutional Right of Longtime Residents to Challenge Their Detention
On July 2, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that noncitizens subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2) have a due process right to challenge their detention under the Fifth Amendment. The court’s ruling has enormous implications for the thousands of noncitizens… Read More
Federal Court Blocks Significant Pieces of Administration’s Sweeping Immigration Appeals Rule That Eliminates Meaningful Judicial Review
Order Halts Implementation of Dangerous Steps that Would Have Dismantled Safeguards at the Board of Immigration Appeals Washington, D.C. — The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order late last night in Amica Center for Immigrant Rights et al. v. Executive Office for Immigration… Read More
Legal Services Organizations Sue to Block Sweeping Immigration Appeals Rule That Eliminates Meaningful Judicial Review
Emergency Filing Seeks Court Order to Halt Implementation of Interim Final Rule that Dismantles Safeguards at the Board of Immigration Appeals Washington, D.C., Feb. 26, 2026 — Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Brooklyn Defender Services, Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, HIAS, the American Immigration Council, and National… Read More
DOJ Moves to End Administrative Immigration Appeals to Speed Up Mass Deportations
The Department of Justice (DOJ), which oversees the immigration court and administrative appeals system, published an interim final rule on February 6 that will effectively end appellate review of many immigration judge decisions. The rule goes into effect March 9, and, while it won’t impact the close to… Read More
As ICE Courthouse Arrests Continue, Few Immigration Courts Resist Pushing Cases Into Expedited Removal
Immigration courthouse arrests and dismissals have become a cornerstone of the Trump administration’s mass deportation plan. Since May 20, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attorneys have been asking immigration judges to dismiss noncitizens’ immigration court cases to funnel them into expedited removal—a faster deportation process with… Read More
Amidst Trump’s Mass Deportation Campaign, Report Shows Access to Lawyers is Critical
Washington DC, Nov. 20 — As the Trump administration intensifies its mass deportation and detention campaign, a new report from the American Immigration Council shows that legal representation is one of the most powerful tools to increase fairness in immigration court. … Read More
Where Can You Win in Immigration Court?
Using immigration court data this report examines the role of legal representation in shaping outcomes in immigration court proceedings. Read More
National Immigrant Rights Organizations Sue the Federal Government Over Withheld Records on ICE Arrests in Immigration Courts
Washington, D.C, October 15 — Today, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, the American Immigration Council, and Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, demanding the release of critical records the government has unlawfully withheld about arrests at immigration courts and the dismissal… Read More
ICE Attorneys Increasingly Request Case Dismissals at Immigration Court Hearings—and Immigration Judges Grant Them on the Spot
As part of the Trump administration’s larger efforts to carry out its mass deportation agenda, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attorneys—who represent the government in removal proceedings—are increasingly asking immigration judges to dismiss noncitizens’ immigration court cases. Rolled out nationwide around May 20 in conjunction with… Read More
BIA Decision Strips Immigration Judges of Bond Authority, All but Guaranteeing Mandatory Detention for Undocumented Immigrants
On September 5, the Trump administration took yet another step to punish undocumented people in the United States. In Matter of Yajure Hurtado, the Board of Immigration Appeals proclaimed that any person who crossed the border unlawfully and is later taken into immigration detention is no longer eligible… Read More
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