Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday rescinded his predecessor Jeff Sessions's earlier immigration court decision that barred judges from administratively closing low priority cases. As a result, this apparently increased the caseload to 1.3 million at Immigration Courts. Administrative closure allows judges to pause cases for those who may already be seeking a green card or other ways to regularize their status in the U.S., including a number seeking asylum. Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote that it has facilitated the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, allowing government counsel to request that certain low-priority cases be removed from immigration judges’ active calendars or the board’s docket, thereby allowing adjudicators to focus on higher-priority cases. This memo empowers Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) prosecutors to exercise discretion to drop low priority cases such as cases against green card holders and those who are elderly, pregnant or have serious health conditions or have been in the U.S. from an early age with additional consideration for other compelling humanitarian factors before trying a case in court.
Vijay Bhagwati, Esq.
Founder and Managing Partner
