Federal Litigation and Appeals

If you receive an adverse immigration decision from either the USCIS field office, Service center or the Immigration Judge, you have the right to appeal the decision with USCIS’ Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) and/or Department of Justice’s Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).

The AAO conducts administrative review of a USCIS officer’s decisions regarding immigration benefit requests, whereas the BIA mainly reviews decisions of immigration courts and, sometimes, decisions from USCIS District Director.

The BIA is the highest administrative body for interpreting and applying immigration laws, and it is not unusual to see clients seeking out appeals that fall under its jurisdiction. If you are unsuccessful in your appeal to the BIA, you may file another appeal at the Circuit Court level and, finally, to the Supreme Court.

A writ of mandamus, or a Petition for Relief can be filed in United States District Court, and are options to get the government to act on an immigration matter. For example, A writ of mandamus is filed when the government is taking an unreasonable amount of time to fulfill its official duties or to correct an abuse of discretion. A writ of mandamus for an immigration matter can be filed if, for example, your application is stuck in limbo and taking years to adjudicate.

The Garfield Law Group has extensive and successful  results in federal litigation and immigration decision appeals. We have successfully litigated cases in five precedent decisions in four different federal courts of appeals to date  Menghesha v. Gonzales, 450 F.3d 142 (4th Cir.2006), Naizgi v. Gonzales, 455 F.3d 484 (4th Cir.2006), Haile v. Holder, 591 F.3d 572 (7th Cir.2010), Berhane v. Holder, 606 F.3d 819 (6th Cir. 2010), and Farres v. Barr, 942 F.3d 1172 (9th Cir.2019).

If you would like to discuss your case to see if we can assist you with federal litigation or an appeal, please contact us today.