Attorney General Overruling of Matter of Castro-Tum and Restoration of Administrative Closure (Matter of Cruz-Valdez)
Validated finding · five-country-2010-20260922-v118-evidence-presentation-fix
Policy effect
Overruled Matter of Castro-Tum, restoring the general authority and discretion of Immigration Judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals (EOIR) to administratively close removal proceedings under the standards set in Matter of Avetisyan and Matter of W-Y-U-. Phase scope: Operative nationwide across all pending and future immigration court and BIA proceedings.
Official source excerpt
Quoted verbatim from the official source below. Ellipses indicate omitted text.
Cite as 28 I&N Dec. 326 (A.G. 2021) Interim Decision #4022 Matter of CRUZ-VALDEZ, Respondent Decided by Attorney General July 15, 2021 U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Attorney General (1) 0DWWHURI&DVWURఇ7XP, 27 I&N Dec. 271 (A.G. 2018), is overruled in its entirety. (2) While rulemaking proceeds and except when a court of appeals has held otherwise, immigration judges and the Board should apply the standard for administrative closure set out in Matter of Avetisyan, 25 I&N Dec. 688 (BIA 2012), and Matter of W-Y-U-, 27 I&N Dec. 17 (BIA 2017). BEFORE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Pursuant to 8 … C.F.R. § 1003.1(h)(1)(i), I direct the Board of Immigration Appeals (“Board”) to refer to me its decision in this matter. With the case thus referred, I hereby vacate the Board’s July 31, 2018, decision and remand the case to the Board for proceedings consistent with this opinion. I also overrule Attorney General Sessions’s opinion in 0DWWHURI&DVWURఇ7XP, 27 I&N Dec. 271 (A.G. 2018), which concluded that the immigration courts’ use of the tool of administrative closure was not authorized. Administrative closure is “a docket management tool that is used to temporarily pause removal proceedings … Department of Justice is now engaged in a reconsideration of that regulation. Because &DVWURఇ7XP departed from long-standing practice, it is appropriate to overrule that opinion in its entirety and restore administrative closure pending the reconsideration of the 2020 rule through notice-and-comment rulemaking, which will “afford[] all interested parties a full and fair opportunity to participate and ensure[] that the relevant facts and analysis are collected and evaluated.” Matter of CRPSHDQ, 25 I&N Dec. 1, 2 (A.G. 2009). Accordingly, while the reconsideration proceeds and except when a court of appeals has held otherwise, immigration judges and the Board should apply the standard for administrative closure set out in Avetisyan and W-Y-U-. 329 …
Review method
Two separate automated exact-claim source reviews
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