The charging document and pleading to it, custody and bond, cancellation of removal and the hardship it demands, the stop-time rule, adjustment raised as a defense, how a criminal conviction is compared against a federal definition, waivers, continuances and administrative closure, motions to reopen and reconsider, and the evidence an immigration judge will take.
The time and numerical limits on motions to reopen before the Board do not apply to a motion agreed upon by all parties and jointly filed, and the parties remain free to contest the issues once proceedings are reopened. The equivalent regulation before the immigration judge contains no joint-motion exception, so a late motion there depends on the judge's own authority to reopen. Agreement is discretionary on the government's side and is never guaranteed.
For most people placed in removal proceedings, the immigration judge acquires exclusive jurisdiction over any adjustment of status application. The underlying visa petition stays with the benefits agency, which splits a single family case across two forums and drives most of the continuance practice in adjustment cases. Arriving noncitizens are treated differently, and no relief of this kind may be granted until security and identity checks have been reported complete.
An immigration judge may receive any oral or written statement that is material and relevant, including statements previously made during an investigation, examination, hearing or trial. Admissibility turns on whether the evidence is probative and whether its use is fundamentally fair rather than on the rules applied in a trial court. The provisions that do exclude material are procedural: filing deadlines, translation certificates and record certification requirements.
The statute requires safeguards where mental incompetency makes it impracticable for a person to be present at the proceeding, and a regulation permits a representative, legal guardian, near relative or friend served with the charging document to appear instead. A judge may not accept an admission of removability from an unrepresented incompetent person. Where fundamentally fair proceedings are impossible because of incompetency and adequate safeguards are unavailable, termination is mandatory.
A respondent must plead to the charging document by stating whether each factual allegation is admitted or denied and whether removability under the charges is conceded. Admitted facts need no further proof. If removability is conceded and the judge is satisfied that no issue of law or fact remains, removability is established on the admissions alone; otherwise the judge directs a hearing and the party bearing the burden must produce evidence.
A person ordered removed may designate one country of removal, and the government must remove to that country unless the designation is disregarded on statutory grounds. The judge separately identifies an alternate country for the record in case the designated country will not accept the person or no designation is made. Designation is not a concession of safety, but it does fix the country against which withholding and torture claims must be proved.
