Appeals
At Pozo Goldstein, LLP our Atlanta immigration attorneys handle immigration
and federal appeals. Attorney Steven Goldstein, a former United States
Immigration Prosecutor has appeared personally before the Eleventh Circuit
Court of Appeals in Atlanta to argue immigration cases.
The Board of Immigration Appeals, located in Falls Church, Virginia, hears
all appeals of from the Atlanta Immigration Court and the Atlanta United
States Citizenship and Immigration Services regarding family-based I-130
petitions.
The Board of Immigration Appeals is part of the United States Department
of Justice. The Judges are appointed by the Attorney General of the United
States. Once an appeal is filed on a document known as a “Notice
of Appeal”, the Board issues transcripts of the entire removal proceedings
to each party and sets briefing dates when the legal briefs are due. In
some cases, the Board will grant 21 day extensions to file a brief if
requested by either party in a timely basis.
The Board usually does not require oral arguments, although there is a
provision for it. An appeal case can be decided by a single judge or a
panel of three judges at the Board. The Board must give deference to the
Immigration Judge in each case and applies a “clearly erroneous”
standard of review. This means that the Board cannot overturn the decision
of the Immigration Judge unless it is so clearly wrong that it must be
reversed or modified. The Board also does not generally consider new evidence
that is not already in the record of proceedings when deciding on an appeal.
The Board may, however, remand the case back to the Immigration Judge
for additional fact-finding.
If the Board of Immigration Appeals agrees with our arguments, the Board
will reverse the opinion of the Immigration Judge and grant the form of
relief sought. If the Board agrees with the Immigration Judge and does
not disturb the opinion, there are further appellate options. First, a
Motion to Reconsider can be filed with the Board within 30 days of their
decision. The Motion to Reconsider must state why the Board made a mistake
of law and ask them to reconsider their decision based on this mistake of law.
Board of Immigration Appeals issues both unpublished and published decisions.
Unpublished decisions are generally not binding on the immigration courts
throughout the United States. Published decisions, however, are binding
on each and every immigration court throughout the United States including
the Atlanta Immigration Court.
If the Board dismisses the case, you have the option of further appealing
the decision to the appropriateFedreal Circuit Court of Appeal. In Atlanta,
the Circuit Court of Appeal is the Eleventh Circuit. The Eleventh Circuit
has jurisdiction to review certain Board of Immigration Appeal cases depending
on a question of law. The Eleventh Circuit generally does not have jurisdiction
to review discretionary decisions made by Immigration Judges and the Board
of Immigration Appeals. When filing an appeal with the Federal Circuit
Court of Appeal, there are strict filing and time sensitive deadlines
including, but not limited to, 30 days from the date of the Board decision
to file the appeal. The Federal Circuit Court may require oral arguments
from the parties in certain cases. If the Federal Circuit Court of Appeal
does not find in your favor, you may ask the Supreme Court of the United
States to hear your case.