There are usually two levels of appeals available after you have lost your removal case in Immigration Court (the Executive Office for Immigration Review – EOIR).
You can appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the administrative appellate court that handles appeals from Immigration Courts all over the country. Your Notice of Appeal must be filed within 30 days of the removal order.
At Montavon McKillip Immigration Law, we can analyze your case to determine if you have strong grounds for appeal.
If the BIA dismisses your appeal, you have the opportunity to appeal to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in your jurisdiction with a Petition for Review (PFR). Your PFR must be filed within 30 days of the BIA decision.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a federal court and part of the judicial branch, unlike the Immigration Court and Board of Immigration Appeals, which are admninistrative bodies and part of the executive branch. Federal courts operate very differently and which much stricter rules then the immigration courts, so it is important to have an experienced attorney, like Andrea Montavon-McKillip, on your side.
Depending on the type of petition or application that was denied, you can appeal to the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) or Board of Immigration Appeals. You may want to consider a motion to reopen or reconsider to USCIS. If you feel as though USCIS unjustly reached an unfavorable decision in your case, reach out to Andrea Montavon-McKillip so that we can research the decision and help you file a strong appeal for your case.
It may be possible to file a delay lawsuit, known as a mandamus, when a government agency is taking too long to decide your case, i.e. beyond USCIS’s posted processing times. The lawsuit is filed in the U.S. District Court, which is the federal trial court, and asks the federal court to compel USCIS to do its job and make a decision in your case. The federal judge cannot tell USCIS to grant your case but can tell USCIS to make a decision within a certain period of time.
If your case is denied in violation of immigration law and regulation, you may have grounds for a lawsuit under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Let Montavon McKillip Immigration Law assess your case to see if it might be right for an APA lawsuit.
After a naturalization denial, you must seek an administrative hearing (with Form N-336) first before you can appeal the denial to federal court. This hearing takes places in the same USCIS Field Office where you had your naturalization interview but must take place before a supervising officer. If your application is still denied after an N-336 hearing, you may then be able to file naturalization litigation in federal court under 8 USC 1447. Let Attorney Andrea Montavon-McKillip review your naturalization denial to see if you have grounds to litigate.
It may be possible to file a habeas corpus lawsuit against ICE. Habeas corpus is Latin for “show me the body.” The lawsuit is filed in the U.S. District Court, and asks the federal court to decide whether your family member’s detention is lawful. Immigration detention is an area of law that is subject to tons of litigation and there can be rapid and repeated changes to the law depending on current litigation. In a habeas case, it is important to have an experienced immigration attorney, like Attorney Andrea Montavon-McKillip, who stays up to date on the status current habeas litigation.
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