Tenth Circuit Creates Split, Says Courts Can Review Refugee-Status Terminations
A divided panel held that a federal statute stripping judicial review of discretionary immigration decisions does not bar challenges to mandatory threshold findings.
Practice area · Immigration
Second Circuit Refuses to Rehear Challenge to Immigration Detention Ruling
In a 11-2 vote, the full appeals court declined to revisit its holding that noncitizens present in the U.S. for years cannot be detained without bond hearings.
Fifth Circuit Vacates S.B. 4 Injunction, Rejects Advocacy Groups’ Standing
The Fifth Circuit held that advocacy organizations could not establish Article III injury by voluntarily redirecting legal-services resources in response to Texas’s immigration law, leaving the preemption question unresolved.
Eleventh Circuit Vacates NEPA Injunction Against Everglades Detention Facility, Finding Florida—Not Washington—Built It
A divided panel rules that environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe failed to show federal control or a final agency action over a state-funded immigration detention site, and holds part of the injunction violated a statutory bar on restraining immigration enforcement.
Justices Reaffirm Deferential Review of BIA Persecution Rulings, Siding With First Circuit
A unanimous Supreme Court holds that substantial-evidence review, not de novo review, governs whether undisputed facts amount to persecution under the INA, resolving a circuit split and reaffirming Elias-Zacarias.
1st Cir. Rejects Categorical Bar on Gang-Related Political Opinion Claims in Immigration Case
The First Circuit vacated the BIA's denial of asylum for a Honduran man, ruling that resistance to gangs can constitute a political opinion depending on the context.
Fifth Circuit Keeps Texas Tuition Consent Judgment In Place
The panel said would-be intervenors could not plausibly defend Texas provisions giving in-state tuition access to students not lawfully present when out-of-state U.S. citizens did not receive the same benefit.
7th Circ. Keeps Immigration Review Petitions Alive After Riley
The Seventh Circuit rejected the government’s bid to dismiss two noncitizens’ petitions as untimely, holding they can invoke equitable tolling after the U.S. Supreme Court reset the filing clock for withholding-only proceedings.
Supreme Court Denies Government Stay Bid In Immigration Judges Fight
The justices said the government had not yet shown irreparable harm, but left room for a renewed request if discovery begins before a forthcoming certiorari petition is resolved.
Ninth Circuit Keeps Drug-Trafficking Bar After Loper Bright
The panel said a Gambian man's methamphetamine conviction remained a particularly serious crime that barred withholding of removal despite his challenge to Chevron-era precedent.
Seventh Circuit Rejects Serbian Soccer Player's Asylum Bid
The panel said threats and an assault by Serbian soccer hooligans reflected personal and performance-related grievances, not persecution tied to a protected ground.
7th Circ. Keeps Post-Riley Removal Petitions Alive
The Seventh Circuit rejected the federal government's bid to toss two noncitizens' petitions for review as untimely, holding that equitable tolling can preserve post-Riley challenges tied to withholding-only and CAT proceedings.
High Court Says Border Metering Doesn't Trigger Asylum Processing Before Entry
The U.S. Supreme Court held that asylum seekers stopped in Mexico have not 'arrived in the United States' under key immigration statutes until they cross the border.
Seventh Circuit Keeps Post-Riley Immigration Petitions Alive
The panel said two noncitizens seeking withholding-only or Convention Against Torture protection may use equitable tolling to overcome Riley's 30-day filing rule.
Tenth Circuit Says Immigrant Detainee Must Get Bond Hearing
The panel rejected the federal government's new reading of immigration detention law, deepening a fast-moving circuit split over mandatory detention for noncitizens arrested inside the U.S.