Cases & Decisions, DOJ/EOIR Cases

IJ Terminates Removal Proceedings After Finding DHS Inappropriately Subjected Respondents to MPP Program

9/17/19 AILA Doc. No. 19102440. Admissions & Border, Asylum

The Immigration Judge terminated removal proceedings after finding that DHS inappropriately subjected respondents to the MPP program since they were not arriving aliens.

"The court concludes that DHS has not proven its fundamental allegation that respondents are arriving aliens and that DHS has not acted properly in subjecting aliens who were apprehended within the United States to the MPP program. Indeed, the vast majority of respondents subjected to the MPP program involve cases where DHS has compelled - without authorization of law - aliens who were present within the United States and were not arriving aliens to return to Mexico to await their removal proceedings. It appears that over 90 percent of the MPP cases involve aliens were not properly subject to INA § 235(b)(2)(C)."

From the VICE News article, "At the Wednesday, Sept. 18 hearing, Judge Margaret Burkhart suggested she and other immigration judges had been instructed to order no-shows deported in absentia, regardless of extenuating circumstances, according to Krishnaswami. The Executive Office for Immigration Review did not reply to a request for comment on this claim.

Cite as AILA Doc. No. 19102440.