Vacatur of Requirement for Full Evidentiary Hearings in Asylum Claims (Matter of E-F-H-L-)

Policy effect

The Attorney General referred to himself and vacated the 2014 Board of Immigration Appeals precedent in Matter of E-F-H-L-, eliminating the binding requirement that asylum and withholding of removal applicants are ordinarily entitled to a full evidentiary hearing on the merits before an Immigration Judge without needing to establish a prima facie case on the written application alone. Phase scope: Nationwide across all EOIR Immigration Courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals

Conditions and exceptions

Validated condition or limit: The Attorney General referred to himself and vacated the 2014 Board of Immigration Appeals precedent in Matter of E-F-H-L-, eliminating the binding requirement that asylum and withholding of removal applicants are ordinarily entitled to a full evidentiary hearing on the merits before an Immigration Judge without needing to establish a prima facie case on the written application alone.

Official source excerpt

Quoted verbatim from the official source below. Ellipses indicate omitted text.

The presiding Immigration Judge determined, without holding an evidentiary hearing, that the respondent’s application failed as a matter of law to make a prima facie case that he was eligible for asylum and withholding of removal, and he denied the application. The respondent appealed on the merits to the Board. The Board remanded, holding that a respondent applying for asylum and withholding of removal was ordinarily entitled to a full evidentiary hearing.

Review method

Two separate automated exact-claim source reviews

Other United States changes operative in 2018

• 2018-01-19Requirement to Articulate Particular Social Groups Before the Immigration Judge (Matter of W-Y-C- & H-O-B-)
• 2018-04-06Zero-Tolerance Policy for Southwest Border Offenses Under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a)
• 2018-05-15Tenant-occupancy methodology withdrawn for EB-5 job forecasts
• 2018-05-17Matter of Castro-Tum: Restriction on General Administrative Closure Authority
• 2018-06-11Matter of A-B-, 27 I&N Dec. 316 (A.G. 2018), Interim Decision #3929
• 2018-08-16Standards for Continuances to Pursue Collateral Relief in Removal Proceedings (Matter of L-A-B-R-)
• 2018-09-11Outright Denials Without Request for Evidence (RFE) or Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) (PM-602-0163)
• 2018-09-18Limitation on Immigration Judges' Inherent Authority to Terminate or Dismiss Removal Proceedings (Matter of S-O-G- & F-D-B-)
• 2018-10-01Expanded Issuance of Notices to Appear (NTAs) for Denied Status-Impacting Applications
• 2018-10-04Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2019
• 2018-11-01Medical-report validity recalculated from the civil surgeon signature