Due Process and the Courts

The immigration laws and regulations provide some avenues to apply for lawful status from within the U.S. or to seek relief from deportation.  The eligibility requirements for these benefits and relief can be stringent, and the immigration agencies often adopt overly restrictive interpretations of the requirements.  Learn about advocacy and litigation that has been and can be undertaken to ensure that noncitizens have a fair chance to apply for the benefits and relief for which they are eligible.  

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.

  • Blog

‘Your Client Is Going Bye-Bye.’ Investigation Details Immigration Judges’ Cruel Behavior in El Paso Court

The complaint outlines systemic due process concerns around unprofessional behavior by immigration judges and troubling court practices in El Paso.

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

Court Rejects Restrictionists’ Attempts to Derail Work Authorization for H-4 Spouses

May 27, 2015

Despite immigration restrictionists’ efforts to derail implementation, a new rule went into effect this week allowing certain H-4 spouses (i.e., spouses of H-1B workers) to apply for work...

  • Blog

Bi-Partisan House Bill Recommends Largest Increase Ever in Immigration Judges

May 21, 2015

This week, the House Appropriations Committee recommended the largest increase in immigration judges in history—$74 million for 55 new immigration judges, and other court improvements. The...

  • Blog

Immigration Appeals Court Reverses Position on Deportation Waivers

May 20, 2015

In a decision issued last week, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) reversed course and decided that a subset of Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) who have been convicted of certain crimes may...

  • Blog

Court Reportedly Set to Order End to Detention of Children in Unlicensed Family Facilities

May 14, 2015

In February, advocates went to court to argue that the government’s family detention centers violate the long-standing Flores v. Reno settlement agreement, which set minimum standards for the...

  • Blog

Why More Immigration Judges Are Needed

May 11, 2015

If there is any aspect of immigration reform over which there should be no partisan disagreement, it is the dire need to increase the number of immigration judges. As most Republicans and...

  • Blog

Arpaio Faces Skeptical Judges In Lawsuit Challenging Obama’s Immigration Action

May 5, 2015

It is unsurprising that the press is paying close attention to Texas v. United States, the case filed by Texas and a number of other states challenging President Obama’s executive actions on...

  • Blog

Supreme Court to Decide Whether It’s Okay to Deprive a Person of His Day In Immigration Court

April 30, 2015

Every day in immigration courts around the country, people facing deportation try to explain why they should be allowed to remain in the United States under our notoriously complex immigration...

  • Blog

No Justice For Family of Mexican Child Killed By U.S. Border Patrol Agent

April 29, 2015

On June 7, 2010, Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca, a fifteen-year-old Mexican national, was playing with a group of friends on the Mexican side of the border near the Paso del Norte Bridge in El...

  • Blog

The Court Decision on Deferred Action Everyone Should Be Talking About

April 8, 2015

Yesterday, in Crane v. Johnson, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (the same court deciding whether or not to keep in place the preliminary injunction blocking the President’s executive actions)...

  • Blog

Leaders From Across U.S. Urge Court to End Injunction in Immigration Action Case

April 6, 2015

Multiple legal briefs are being filed today in support of ending the injunction against the Obama Administration’s expansion of deferred action. On February 16, 2015, a Texas federal judge issued...

  • Amicus Briefs

Matter of Negusie

Publication Date: 
December 3, 2018
In Matter of Negusie, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions referred to himself the question of whether coercion and duress are relevant to the application of the immigration statute’s persecutor bar for individuals seeking asylum or withholding of removal
  • Press Release

No One Should Face the Immigration System Alone: The American Immigration Council Highlights the Critical Need for Access to an Attorney for #GivingTuesday Campaign

November 21, 2018
The American Immigration Council announced today that it will focus on the critical need for access to an attorney when navigating the immigration system during its #GivingTuesday and year-end fundraising campaign starting November 27.
  • Blog

Judge Blocks President Trump’s New Asylum Ban

November 20, 2018

Ruling in a lawsuit late Monday night, a federal judge in San Francisco put the Trump administration’s asylum ban—an unprecedented move that barred asylum to any individual crossing the Southern...

  • Blog

DACA Is Still in Effect as It Heads to the Supreme Court

November 13, 2018

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stinging rebuke to President Trump’s ongoing efforts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative last week, unanimously...

  • Blog

The Government Outlines Its Plan to Extend TPS Benefits Under Court Order

October 26, 2018

In early October, a federal court ruled that the Trump administration had violated the law when it terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for individuals from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua,...

  • Blog

Disarray in Baltimore Immigration Court Is Emblematic of Systemic Issues

October 12, 2018

Overwhelmed immigration courts and massive court backlogs have long been a nation-wide problem. Hearings are regularly scheduled years in advance—in some jurisdictions, judges are scheduling...

  • Blog

As Immigration Court Quotas Go Into Effect, Many Call For Reform

October 1, 2018

On October 1, immigration judges around the country will arrive at work and face a daunting new task; complete 700 removal cases in the next year or risk official sanction. The new court quotas...

  • Blog

Which Immigration Cases Will the Supreme Court Hear This Term?

September 28, 2018

On October 1, the Supreme Court will begin hearing cases for the start of its 2018-2019 term. Although only one immigration case is currently scheduled to be heard, challenges to President Trump’s...

  • Blog

Sessions Limits Immigration Judges’ Ability to Dismiss Deportation Cases

September 26, 2018

In his latest attempt to micromanage immigration judges and ensure a maximum number of deportations, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a decision last week restricting a judge’s ability to...

  • Amicus Briefs

Matter of L-A-B-R-

Publication Date: 
September 24, 2018
This amicus brief discusses how Sessions’ public statements indicate prejudgment about the use of continuances and explains how Sessions’ use of the referral authority suggests that he is choosing to refer cases to himself to achieve predetermined political and policymaking goals.

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