BIA Appeals Flip
AILA flagged a dramatic surge in Board of Immigration Appeals rulings siding with DHS—reporting a 97% DHS success rate in recent decisions, a shift that materially changes the landscape for appellate strategy. That sort of skew will force reassessment of whether and how to appeal adverse IJ rulings. (x.com)
The Justice Department reduced the Board of Immigration Appeals to a 15‑member bench and the remaining panel includes judges appointed under the current administration. (opb.org) The Board issued a record number of published precedential opinions in 2025—about 70 published decisions, according to reporting that tracked the Board’s surge in precedent‑setting rulings. (opb.org) A separate tally covering Jan. 31, 2025–Feb. 13, 2026 counted 77 BIA/AG decisions and reported that only one of those rulings was clearly favorable to the noncitizen. (nipnlg.org) An Interim Final Rule titled “Appellate Procedures for the Board of Immigration Appeals” took effect March 9, 2026 and makes merits review discretionary while imposing fixed briefing timelines and other procedural changes. (federalregister.gov) A federal judge in Amica Ctr. for Immig. Rights v. EOIR issued an order blocking significant portions of that interim final rule, creating immediate litigation uncertainty about the rule’s enforceability. (democracyforward.org) EOIR Director Daren Margolin issued Policy Memorandum PM 26‑02 clarifying a 30‑day deadline to appeal Immigration Judge decisions to the BIA, a procedural deadline now emphasized in agency guidance. (aila.org) Practitioners can access published BIA and AG precedent decisions through EOIR’s Virtual Law Library and the DOJ’s BIA decision pages, which remain the official sources for opinions and citation histories. (justice.gov)
