US judge blocks Trump bid to fast-track immigration appeal dismissals

A federal judge from the DOJ U.S. blocks Trump's bid to fast-track dismissals of immigration appeals.

As reported by Reuters, U.S. District Judge Randolph ‌Moss in Washington, D.C., late on Sunday vacated the core part of a rule set to take effect on Monday that the U.S. Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review EOIR issued in a bid to revamp the appellate review process before the Board of Immigration Appeals BIA.

Moss, who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, said the office adopted the rule without first providing an opportunity for notice and public comment in violation of the rulemaking requirements in the Administrative Procedure Act.

"Issues that are so fundamental to the rights of tens of thousands of individuals (and that will guide how organizations and lawyers present their claims to the BIA) ought to be considered and addressed before—rather than after—a rule takes effect," Moss wrote.

He vacated core provisions of the rule that would have cut the amount of time people have to file notices of appeal of an immigration judge's decision from 30 days to 10 and treated any issue not raised in that notice as waived.

Those appeals would be summarily dismissed unless, within 10 days of the notice of appeal being filed, the case was referred to the full BIA and the board voted to accept the appeal.

Moss said that under that rule, someone appealing an immigration judge's decision "will almost certainly lose his case before the BIA before it even begins; in the vast majority of cases, the case will be disposed of by summary dismissal."

Five non-profit legal and social service organizations that represent people in immigration proceedings and had ‌sued to block the rule hailed the decision, saying the rule would have trampled on due process rights.

"At a time when the due process rights of immigrants are under attack, this ruling prevents the BIA from reaching the point of near self-destruction," Emilie Raber, a lawyer with the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, said in a statement.

The agency had in unveiling the rule last month, calling it necessary to combat a backlog of cases before the BIA, which like the immigration courts below it, is not part of the federal judiciary but is instead part of the executive branch.

At the end of the 2025 fiscal year, 202,946 appeals were pending before the BIA, compared to 37,285 a decade ago.

EOIR said the rule would streamline the BIA's appellate review procedures and reduce potential delays, moves the Trump administration said were necessary to display its commitment to deporting immigrants not lawfully present in the United States.

While Moss in Sunday's ruling vacated the "central features" of the rule, he declined to block some other provisions the plaintiffs challenged, such as one that requires simultaneous briefing by parties in appeals.

The case is Amica Center for Immigrant Rights v. Executive Office for Immigration Review, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:26-cv-00696.

For the plaintiffs: Erez Reuveni, Allyson Scher, Catherine Carroll and Robin Thurston of Democracy Forward; Michelle Lapointe and Suchi Mathur of the American Immigration Council; and Keren Zwick, Mary Georgevich and Maria Dambriunas of the National Immigrant Justice Center.