DOJ Looks to Automatically Dismiss Immigration Appeals as Trump Pushes Mass Deportations [View all]

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Source: NOTUS

Immigration

DOJ Looks to Automatically Dismiss Immigration Appeals as Trump Pushes Mass Deportations

A new entry to the Federal Register is meant to speed the rate of decisions at the Board of Immigration Appeals.

By Jose Pagliery
February 5, 2026 12:52 PM

The Trump administration's mass deportation campaign is about to receive a forceful boost, with the Justice Department planning to quickly and automatically dismiss immigration cases on appeal. ... This low-profile administrative tweak would give federal agents permission to immediately arrest more immigrants under the pretext that their cases are suddenly deemed "finalized." And the move comes just as the Department of Homeland Security is buying warehouses across the country to develop a network of mass detention camps that have caused fierce local pushback.

Jennifer Peyton, who was the assistant chief immigration judge in Chicago until last summer, called the plans "yet another deprivation of due process for noncitizens who are already getting the short end of the stick." ... Peyton, now an immigration lawyer in private practice, said the DOJ's plans are an "extension of the acts of the administration to intentionally destroy the immigration court."

The DOJ's plans are laid out in an unpublished entry* to the Federal Register that's scheduled** to appear officially on Friday. In it, the DOJ's quasi-judicial Executive Office for Immigration Review said it is seeking to "streamline administrative appellate review" by changing how the agency's administrative high court considers appeals. ... Currently, people who lose cases in the DOJ's administrative EOIR court can seek review of judges' decisions from the Board of Immigration Appeals in Falls Church, Virginia. However, the BIA has been inundated with a flood of appeals -- and as those get processed, migrants continue to go about their everyday lives. Government data shows that there are tens of thousands of cases in the backlog at any given moment, with pending appeals reaching 91,973 during the start of fiscal year 2022.

According to the DOJ in this proposed rule, this backlog has grown to 200,000 ongoing immigration cases on appeal. And that's under the current system, which allows a single BIA board member to make a decision on a case. ... However, the DOJ is now looking to upend that system.

{snip}

* https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-02326.pdf

** https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2026-02326/appellate-procedures-for-the-board-of-immigration-appeals

Read more: https://www.notus.org/immigration/department-justice-board-immigration-appeals-federal-register

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They were never going to get to their stated deportations goal with due process. So they're phasing it out.

(Part 2)

— Radley Balko (@radleybalko.bsky.social) 2026-02-05T15:56:13.355Z

******
Radley Balko
‪@radleybalko.bsky.social‬

They were never going to get to their stated deportations goal with due process. So they're phasing it out.

(Part 2)

‪Aaron Reichlin-Melnick‬
‪@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social‬
· 4h
🚨HOLY CRAP. The Trump admin just took a SLEDGEHAMMER to due process, largely eliminating the Board of Immigration Appeals process and MANDATING DISMISSAL of ALL appeals (which cost $1,000 thanks to OBBBA) filed after tomorrow unless a majority of the BIA votes to hear the case.

Thus, rather than require such adjudications, the Department is changing its regulations to provide the Board more flexibility in reviewing appeals. Instead, for appeals taken from decisions issued after this IF becomes effective, as explained in
Section IV.A of this preamble, the default will be summary dismissal unless a majority of current Board members vote to consider the appeal on the merits. And such dismissals
will occur quickly--within 15 days of filing the appeal--allowing aliens to seek Federal court review expeditiously, rather than potentially waiting for years for a Board decision that in the vast majority of cases would affirm the underlying Immigration Judge
decision.
ALT
10:56 AM · Feb 5, 2026
******

🚨HOLY CRAP. The Trump admin just took a SLEDGEHAMMER to due process, largely eliminating the Board of Immigration Appeals process and MANDATING DISMISSAL of ALL appeals (which cost ,000 thanks to OBBBA) filed after tomorrow unless a majority of the BIA votes to hear the case.

— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) 2026-02-05T14:37:28.775Z

******
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
‪@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social‬

🚨HOLY CRAP. The Trump admin just took a SLEDGEHAMMER to due process, largely eliminating the Board of Immigration Appeals process and MANDATING DISMISSAL of ALL appeals (which cost $1,000 thanks to OBBBA) filed after tomorrow unless a majority of the BIA votes to hear the case.

Thus, rather than require such adjudications, the Department is changing its regulations to provide the Board more flexibility in reviewing appeals. Instead, for appeals taken from decisions issued after this IF becomes effective, as explained in
Section IV.A of this preamble, the default will be summary dismissal unless a majority of current Board members vote to consider the appeal on the merits. And such dismissals
will occur quickly--within 15 days of filing the appeal--allowing aliens to seek Federal court review expeditiously, rather than potentially waiting for years for a Board decision that in the vast majority of cases would affirm the underlying Immigration Judge
decision.
ALT
9:37 AM · Feb 5, 2026
******