Category: Asylum, Withholding, CAT

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) clarified that a foreign national does not need to rescind a prior removal order if a foreign national seeks to file for asylum based on changed country conditions in the foreign national’s home country. Normally, an individual who has an outstanding order of removal (deportation) first files a motion to reopen with the Immigration […]

For those of us familiar with Asylum cases, there is much grumbling and moaning when you mention “The Clock.” It can ruin a person’s ability to support themselves and it is unclear when it gets stopped and started or does not run. The “Asylum Clock” (or KLOK as it is also known) is basically the concept that a foreign national […]

United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a memo on November 7, 2011 providing guidelines to officers describing when a Notice to Appear (NTA) is to be issued. An NTA is the document that starts removal (deportation) proceedings against a non-citizen. It is sometimes referred to as the charging document and receiving one of these is usually bad news […]

The Board of Immigration Appeals in Matter of T-Z-, 24 I&N Dec. 163 (BIA 2007) held physical harm is not necessary. Threats or severe economic deprivation can rise to the level of persecution. “(1) An abortion is forced by threats of harm when a reasonable person would objectively view the threats for refusing the abortion to be genuine, and the […]

The Board of Immigration Appeals in a recent decision determined that a child of 14 who probably can’t read, write or speak English is old enough to accept and comply with confusing legal documents issued by very friendly border agents. The BIA held that “Personal service of a Notice to Appear (Form I-862) on a minor who is 14 years of age or older […]

It sounds like a mouthful.  One of the divisions of the U.S. Government that represents the U.S. Department of Homeland Security before the Federal Courts (mainly the various Courts of Appeal) is the Office of Immigration Litigation (OIL).  Periodically, OIL publishes their Immigration Litigation Bulletin which was previously unavailable to the public until the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was […]

United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) published a memo earlier this year indicating detailing when a Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) self petition can be revoked:  “If an officer in the field receives new information that was not available to the VSC at the time of the approval of a VAWA self-petition, and that new information leads the officer […]

In a refreshing decision, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals remanded an MS-13 El Salvador gang case back to the Board of Immigration Appeals after determining that the respondent did fit within a particular social group for his kinship (family) ties to his uncle who testified against the criminal gang MS-13.  Both the uncle and the respondent received threats in El […]

In a case argued and briefed by Attorney Ricky Malik, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a published decision on January 19, 2011 denying the asylum, withholding and Convention against Torture (CAT) claims of one of our clients.  Our client was seeking asylum and related protection in the United States based on his fear of returning to El […]

Attorney Ricky Malik argued and tried a case of a woman who was seeking asylum based on the severe abuse endured at the hands of her husband.  Ricky Malik, Esq. Immigration Attorney