The Board of Immigration Appeals has dismissed the appeal of a detained Indian respondent ordered removed after failing to timely file an application for relief, holding that the only statutory or regulatory time requirement protecting the right to seek counsel is that the first hearing not be scheduled earlier than ten days after service of the notice to appear.
The Board withdrew from language in Matter of C-B- suggesting immigration judges must afford a "reasonable and realistic" period to seek counsel beyond that statutory minimum, calling the language unsupported dicta that departed from the text of the INA. Because the respondent's first hearing occurred twenty-six days after service and he received two continuances thereafter without showing any imminent prospect of retaining counsel, the Board held the immigration judge did not abuse his discretion in denying a third continuance.
The full text of Matter of A-K-R- can be found here: https://www.justice.gov/eoir/media/1458041/dl?inline