Justia Immigration Law Opinion Summaries

Bulgarian native Vladimir Vladimirov petitioned the Tenth Circuit to review of a Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) order of removal based on marriage fraud. Much of the government’s evidence came from written reports prepared by immigration officers and other written materials contained in the agency’s files. Vladimirov claimed the BIA’s reliance on such materials denied him due process of law and without the disputed evidence the government failed to make its case. After consideration of the process due in immigration cases, particularly as it applied to the consideration of evidence that might be excluded in other contexts, the Tenth Circuit found no reversible error in this case and denied the petition for review. View "Vladimirov v. Lynch" on Justia Law

Petitioner Alfonzo De Niz Robles filed an administrative application for an adjustment of status after and in reliance on the Tenth Circuit’s decision in “Padilla-Caldera v. Gonzales (Padilla-Caldera I, 426 F.3d 1294 (2005)). His petition languished so long that it still stood waiting for a decision four years later, after the BIA handed down “In re Briones, (24 I.&N. Dec. 355 (BIA 2007). The Tenth Circuit decided “Padilla-Caldera II.” When the BIA finally did take up petitioner’s petition in 2013, it decided to apply its decision in Briones retroactively to his case, using it to hold him categorically ineligible for an adjustment of status and subject to removal. On appeal. Petitioner sought to overturn that decision. “[I]n the end, the BIA’s decision to apply Briones retroactively to Mr. De Niz Robles finds no support in our examination of the principles underlying the law of retroactivity, in Supreme Court or circuit precedent, or in relevant authority from other jurisdictions.” View "De Niz Robles v. Lynch" on Justia Law