Board of Immigration Appeals

Roxana V. Muro is a knowledgeable immigration attorney with years of experience. Contact the Law Offices of Roxana V. Muro at 909-297-1860 with any immigration issues you may have.

Board of Immigration Appeal

If you have an immigration issue that must be adjudicated, the Board of Immigration Appeal will be the final arbiter, within the U.S. immigration system, on the matter. Initial decisions from an immigration court, USCIS, and ICE are be appealed to the BIA, however not all decisions can be appealed to the BIA. The BIA is made up of a panel of 21 individuals. The BIA has nationwide jurisdiction and thus can hear cases that originate anywhere in the United States. Although it functions like a court, the BIA has some significant differences with the regular U.S. court system.

The BIA is not part of the U.S. judicial branch, and as such is technically not a federal court. Instead, the BIA is part of the executive branch and is part of the Department of Justice. Because the BIA is part of the Department of Justice, the Attorney General of the United States has significant influence over the BIA. Most notably, the Attorney General can create policies that are binding upon the BIA. For example, in 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions adopted a policy that domestic violence did qualify as persecution for asylum purposes; therefore, no one claiming asylum based on suffering domestic violence would be granted asylum. Prior to Attorney General Sessions adopting this policy, the BIA had ruled on domestic on a case-by-case basis and sometimes granted to an asylum to domestic violence. After adoption Attorney General Sessions’ policy, however, the BIA has bound the policy and could no longer grant asylum to domestic violence victims.

Furthermore, because the BIA is not part of the judiciary, it has a different process and rules than federal court. For example, most BIA cases are conducted through writing only. If you a case before the BIA you will not need to go court, and there will be no hearings. Instead, everything will be conducted by the two parties submitting written documents, and the BIA will provide all parties with its ruling in writing. Occasionally, the BIA may hold hearings on a case and require the parties to be present.

In some cases, decisions by the BIA may be appealed to the Federal Court of Appeals. Generally, there must be some constitutional issue, such as a denial of the immigrant’s constitutional rights, in order to appeal a BIA decision to the Federal Court of Appeals. Once a case in the Federal Court of Appeals, the case is in the traditional judicial system and must follow all rules required by the federal judicial system.