EOIR has proposed new rules that would allow immigration judges to impose civil money penalties on individuals who act in contempt of their authority. The proposed Immigration Judge contempt penalties rule would also establish appeal procedures and update practitioner discipline standards.
The Department of Justice has issued an interim final rule significantly increasing EOIR filing fees under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, adding new surcharges, mandating asylum application and annual fees, and eliminating prior fee exemptions for immigration court filings and appeals.
When DHS files Form I-213 evidence of alienage before a hearing both parties miss, the Board of Immigration Appeals has now confirmed: terminating proceedings is error. Immigration Judges must instead proceed with an in absentia hearing.
On April 3, 2026, the BIA issued Matter of Pelagio Mendoza, holding that lay testimony alone is generally insufficient cancellation of removal hardship evidence when qualifying relatives have sought medical treatment and expert records could have been produced. This binding ruling reshapes what practitioners must document in all cancellation of removal cases.
In Matter of Valenzuela Gallardo (BIA 2026), the Board reaffirmed that an obstruction of justice aggravated felony requires only a specific intent to interfere with the process of justice — not an ongoing proceeding. California accessory to a felony convictions with sentences of one year or more now categorically qualify. Practitioners and affected individuals should review their exposure immediately.
In Matter of Lopez-Orellana, 29 I&N Dec. 533 (BIA 2026), the Board of Immigration Appeals held that Immigration Judges must proceed with in absentia removal rather than terminate proceedings when a respondent fails to appear and received adequate notice of the missed hearing, even if the original notice to appear was noncompliant.
In Matter of Mercado-Martinez, 29 I&N Dec. 529 (BIA 2026), the Board of Immigration Appeals clarified the evidentiary standard an Immigration Judge must apply before finding a Form I-213 unreliable in removal proceedings — with significant consequences for alienage determinations and deportation defense strategies.
In Matter of Z-R-C-N-, the BIA held that a respondent cannot prevail on an ineffective assistance of counsel claim when the person she hired was not an attorney and never represented himself as one. The decision also addresses the speculative nature of SIJ-based adjustment of status where a 4-year visa backlog exists. Immigration practitioners and affected families need to understand both holdings.
In Matter of Arevalo-Vargas, 29 I&N Dec. 519 (BIA 2026), the Board of Immigration Appeals tightened the cancellation of removal hardship standard, holding that economic detriment, reduced educational opportunity, and emotional hardship from family separation do not meet the exceptional and extremely unusual hardship threshold required under INA § 240A(b)(1). Practitioners and affected families should understand how this binding precedent affects pending and future applications.
In Matter of Medina Madrid, decided March 13, 2026, the Board of Immigration Appeals held that removal proceedings administratively closed for over 13 years must be recalendared, and that an intent to file a provisional unlawful presence waiver does not justify continued administrative closure.
