Fourth Circuit Holds a Vacated Conviction Does Not Establish Inadmissibility

The Fourth Circuit has granted in part a petition for review filed by a Mexican lawful permanent resident denied a waiver of inadmissibility because a state court vacated her marijuana conviction only after the immigration judge's decision, holding that a vacated conviction no longer renders a noncitizen an "alien convicted of" a controlled-substance offense.

Declining to follow the BIA's longstanding framework distinguishing convictions vacated for substantive defects from those vacated for other reasons, the Court held that the statutory phrase describes a person's current legal status, not a mere historical fact, and that the background principle that vacated judgments are void ab initio confirms that a vacated conviction no longer counts against a noncitizen. The Court separately upheld as reasonable the regulations governing the timing of voluntary departure after a petition for review is filed, rejecting the petitioner's argument that they arbitrarily reward noncitizens who wait longer to seek review.

The full text of Yanez Piedra v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/251258.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Affirms Injunction Requiring DHS to Restore Houses-of-Worship Enforcement Policy

The Fourth Circuit has affirmed a preliminary injunction obtained by Quaker, Sikh, and Baptist congregations requiring DHS to abide by its 2021 policy limiting immigration enforcement at houses of worship, after the agency rescinded that policy in January 2025 in favor of officer "discretion" and "common sense."

The Court held the plaintiffs had standing based on documented declines in worship attendance traceable to the new policy, and were likely to succeed on their claim that the policy substantially burdens their religious exercise under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by increasing the threat of enforcement actions at their services and pressuring congregations to compromise beliefs of welcoming all worshippers and pacifism. Because the government failed to argue or present evidence in the district court that the new policy was the least restrictive means of advancing a compelling interest, the Court held it had waived that defense.

The full text of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends v. DHS can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/251512.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Holds Provisional Waiver Regulations Do Not Shield Applicants from Removal

The Fourth Circuit has vacated summary judgment for a certified class of noncitizens married to U.S. citizens who were arrested at USCIS offices while pursuing provisional unlawful-presence waivers, holding that the waiver regulations do not bar the government from detaining or removing applicants while their waiver applications remain pending.

The Court held the regulations expressly warn that a pending provisional waiver application does not stay removal, and that intervening circuit precedent forecloses any due process right to access the waiver process without interference. The Court also held the sparse, discovery-free record could not support the class's alternative theory that the government used the waiver program as "bait" to lure and target applicants for arrest, and remanded for further proceedings on that narrower theory.

The full text of Sanchez v. Mullin can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/241487.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Holds Section 1252(b)(1)'s Deadline Is Subject to Equitable Tolling

The Fourth Circuit has granted a petition for review filed by a Salvadoran man who fled MS-13 retaliation after founding an anti-gang youth committee, holding both that his otherwise-late petition should be equitably tolled given the confusion created by the Supreme Court's intervening decision in Riley v. Bondi and that the agency committed multiple errors on the merits of his withholding and CAT claims.

Joining the Sixth and Seventh Circuits, the Court held that nothing in the text, structure, or history of 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(1) rebuts the ordinary presumption favoring equitable tolling of filing deadlines. On the merits, the Court held the agency ignored substantial record evidence that the gang imputed an anti-gang political opinion to the petitioner, erred in its particular social group analysis by requiring "public" visibility and analyzing terms like "witness" and "report" in isolation rather than together, and failed to meaningfully engage with corroborating evidence supporting his CAT claim.

The full text of Navarro Cerritos v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/231897.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Holds Agency Erred by Focusing on Why the Persecutor Targeted the Petitioner's Partner

The Fourth Circuit has granted a petition for review filed by a Salvadoran mother and her children denied asylum after a man threatened them in retaliation for her former partner's affair with the man's wife, holding that the agency legally erred by analyzing why the persecutor targeted the former partner rather than why he threatened the family.

The Court held that the nexus inquiry must focus on the persecutor's reasons for targeting the petitioner herself, and that the record compelled a finding that the petitioner was threatened solely because of her family relationship to her former partner, satisfying the "at least one central reason" standard even though the underlying dispute stemmed from personal matters between the men. A concurring judge wrote separately to flag, for future cases, that the government may be able to defend an agency ruling on grounds the agency did not itself invoke following the Supreme Court's decision in FDA v. Wages and White Lion Investments.

The full text of Orellana-Ramos v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/252320.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Vacates Cancellation Denial Where Petitioner Was Never Heard on Third-Country Hardship

The Fourth Circuit has granted a petition for review filed by a Guinean mother who was denied cancellation of removal after being granted withholding of removal to Guinea based on her fear that her daughters would face female genital mutilation there, holding that she was never given a fair opportunity to present evidence that removal to a third country would cause her daughters exceptional hardship.

The Court held that the immigration judge's order limiting briefing to the narrow legal question of whether withholding relief categorically barred cancellation left the petitioner no opportunity to develop the separate factual question of third-country hardship, and that the promised evidentiary hearing on that question never occurred. The Court vacated the BIA's order and remanded, over a dissent that would have found the procedural argument forfeited and any error harmless.

The full text of Keita v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/241226.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Vacates Cancellation Denial Where Petitioner Was Never Heard on Third-Country Hardship

The Fourth Circuit has granted a petition for review filed by a Guinean mother who was denied cancellation of removal after being granted withholding of removal to Guinea based on her fear that her daughters would face female genital mutilation there, holding that she was never given a fair opportunity to present evidence that removal to a third country would cause her daughters exceptional hardship.

The Court held that the immigration judge's order limiting briefing to the narrow legal question of whether withholding relief categorically barred cancellation left the petitioner no opportunity to develop the separate factual question of third-country hardship, and that the promised evidentiary hearing on that question never occurred. The Court vacated the BIA's order and remanded, over a dissent that would have found the procedural argument forfeited and any error harmless.

The full text of Keita v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/241226.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Upholds Bar on Parents of Special Immigrant Juveniles Receiving Immigration Benefits

The Fourth Circuit has affirmed summary judgment for USCIS against two naturalized citizens who obtained status through the Special Immigrant Juvenile program as children and later tried to petition for immigration benefits on behalf of their mothers, one through military parole-in-place and one through a family-based petition.

The Court held that the SIJ statute's exclusion clause permanently bars any natural or prior adoptive parent of an SIJ recipient from ever obtaining immigration benefits by virtue of that parentage, regardless of which parent was found to have abused, neglected, or abandoned the child, and that USCIS's implementing regulation faithfully tracks that bar. The Court also rejected the petitioners' equal protection challenge, holding that although SIJ recipients are treated differently from other citizens seeking to sponsor a parent, the exclusion clause survives rational basis review because it reasonably protects children from parents who may have caused them harm.

The full text of Fuentes v. USCIS can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/251005.P.pdf

An amended opinion can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/251005.p.pdf

Fourth Circuit Affirms Habeas Jurisdiction Over Georgetown Scholar's Detention Challenge

The Fourth Circuit has affirmed a district court's exercise of habeas jurisdiction over the detention challenge brought by Dr. Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown postdoctoral scholar detained by ICE and rapidly transferred across four detention facilities in multiple states after the Secretary of State determined that his social media activity concerning Gaza posed foreign policy consequences.

The Court held that the unknown-custodian exception and the exception drawn from Justice Kennedy's concurrence in Rumsfeld v. Padilla both independently supported jurisdiction in the Eastern District of Virginia, given the government's rapid and largely undisclosed movement of Suri and the district court's unchallenged findings of forum manipulation. The Court further held that none of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1252(g), 1252(b)(9), or 1252(a)(5) stripped the district court of jurisdiction, reasoning that Suri's detention and due process claims were legally distinct from, and did not arise from, the government's decision to commence removal proceedings, and expressly declining to follow the Third Circuit's contrary approach in Khalil v. President, United States.

The full text of Suri v. Trump can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/251560.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Holds Deferred Enforced Departure Is Not an Admission "In Any Status"

The Fourth Circuit has denied a petition for review filed by a Salvadoran woman seeking cancellation of removal, holding that her 1994 reentry as a beneficiary of Deferred Enforced Departure did not count as an admission "in any status" for purposes of the seven-year continuous residence requirement under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(a)(2), even though the immigration officer stamped her passport "Admitted."

The Court held that "status" in the INA is a term of art denoting membership in a congressionally defined immigration classification, and that DED, a purely discretionary act of executive forbearance, creates no such classification. Splitting from the Fifth and Ninth Circuits, the majority reasoned that "any status" broadens the range of qualifying statuses but does not dispense with the requirement that some status exist at all, and that her earlier Temporary Protected Status had already expired by the time of her 1994 reentry.

The full text of Montesinos Cisneros v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/231090.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Denies Asylum Where Gang Extorted Petitioner as Part of Generalized Recruitment

The Fourth Circuit has denied a petition for review filed by a Guatemalan man who fled after MS-13 members assaulted him and demanded extortion payments, threatening to recruit him because he could not pay. He sought asylum based on membership in social groups of Guatemalan youths and youths who resist gang recruitment.

The Court held that substantial evidence supported the agency's finding that the gang targeted the petitioner for money and to grow its ranks generally, not because of his age or his resistance to recruitment specifically, since his own testimony described an indiscriminate extortion scheme applied to everyone in the gang's territory. The Court explained that a general country-conditions report on gang recruitment of youth could not compel a contrary, petitioner-specific finding of nexus, and separately upheld the denial of CAT protection based on evidence that Guatemalan police make genuine efforts to combat gang violence.

The full text of Flores-Turcios v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/241338.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Finds Due Process Violation Where Immigration Court Refused Timely VAWA Filing

The Fourth Circuit has granted a petition for review filed by a Jamaican domestic violence survivor whose motion to reopen removal proceedings under VAWA was denied as untimely, even though his attorney had tried to file it on the deadline both electronically and in person, only to be turned away each time by the immigration court itself.

The Court held that the INA's grant of a statutory right to file a motion to reopen creates a protected liberty interest, and that the record compelled the conclusion that the immigration court's own refusal to accept a timely filing rendered the proceedings fundamentally unfair and prejudiced the outcome. The Court rejected the BIA's reasoning that the petitioner's failure to return to the courthouse the next day, or to have already filed his VAWA self-petition with USCIS, undermined his claim, since neither was required to establish timeliness or prejudice. The Court reversed and remanded, noting that filing a motion "should not be a game of gotcha."

The full text of Burey v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/251869.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Vacates BIA's Reversal of CAT Relief for Improper De Novo Review

The Fourth Circuit, on remand from the Supreme Court, has granted a Jamaican petitioner's amended petition for review challenging the BIA's reversal of an immigration judge's grant of deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture. The petitioner feared torture at the hands of a Jamaican drug lord who had allegedly ordered the killing of two of his cousins, with the acquiescence of local police.

Addressing threshold issues left open by the Supreme Court's decision in Riley v. Bondi, the Court permitted the petitioner to amend his petition to include his original removal order, curing any jurisdictional defect. On the merits, the Court held that the BIA had improperly reweighed the evidence and substituted its own factual findings for the immigration judge's, rather than applying the deferential clear-error standard required for review of CAT determinations. The Court vacated the BIA's decision and remanded for the agency to reconsider under the correct standard.

The full text of Riley v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/221609.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Remands for Proper Application of Particularly Serious Crime Test Despite Incredible Testimony

The Fourth Circuit has granted in part a petition for review filed by a Salvadoran asylum applicant whose claims of persecution by a transnational cartel were found not credible by the immigration judge. The applicant was also found statutorily barred from asylum and withholding of removal based on a Virginia conviction for assault and battery against a family member, which the judge deemed a particularly serious crime.

The Court upheld the adverse credibility determination and the denial of CAT relief, agreeing that the applicant's account of his encounters with the cartel was properly found implausible and uncorroborated. However, the Court held that the immigration judge failed to apply the required two-step test for the particularly serious crime bar, evaluating the elements of the offense only after describing its underlying facts rather than before. The Court remanded for the agency to properly apply its own precedent.

The full text of Guevara Martinez v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/251429.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Holds Virginia Embezzlement Is Not Categorically a Crime of Fraud or Deceit

The Fourth Circuit has granted a petition for review filed by a Honduran lawful permanent resident found removable based on a Virginia embezzlement conviction that the agency classified as an aggravated felony involving fraud or deceit.

Applying the categorical approach, the Court held that Virginia's embezzlement statute does not require any fraudulent or deceitful conduct by its elements, since a person can embezzle openly, without concealment or misrepresentation. The Court rejected the government's reliance on prior dicta suggesting embezzlement generally involves dishonesty, explaining that Virginia's statute criminalizes only the wrongful taking of property already in the defendant's possession. The Court vacated the removal order and remanded to the agency.

The full text of Ramos v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/252037.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Remands Salvadoran Women PSG Claim

The Fourth Circuit has granted in part a petition for review filed by a Salvadoran mother and her minor daughter. The lead petitioner fled El Salvador after her father threatened her following her public accusations that he had orchestrated her mother’s murder.

The Court found that the BIA abused its discretion by refusing to review the proposed particular social group of Salvadoran women on the ground that it had been raised for the first time on appeal. The record showed that the group had been raised before, and decided by, the Immigration Judge. The Court denied the petition as to the remaining political opinion, particular social group, and CAT claims, but vacated and remanded on the Salvadoran women PSG.

The full text of Alvarado-Paz v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/251119.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Finds New Jersey Child Sexual Abuse Material Offense Is a Crime of Child Abuse

The Fourth Circuit has denied in part and dismissed in part a petition for review filed by a Bangladeshi native and Canadian citizen who was found removable based on a New Jersey conviction involving child sexual abuse material. The respondent had pleaded guilty to knowingly storing or maintaining twenty-five or more items depicting the sexual exploitation or abuse of a child using a file-sharing program that made the material available for searching or copying by other computers.

The Court held that the conviction categorically qualifies as a crime of child abuse under the INA. The Court focused on the version of the New Jersey statute in effect at the time of the criminal conduct, rather than a later amended version, and found that storing child sexual abuse material on a searchable file-sharing program creates a reasonable probability of harm to the children depicted. The Court also dismissed the challenge to the discretionary denial of cancellation of removal and adjustment of status for lack of jurisdiction.

The full text of Uddin v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/241067.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Finds Denial of Continuance Violated Statutory Right to Counsel

The Fourth Circuit has granted a petition for review filed by a Honduran asylum applicant whose attorney withdrew shortly before key deadlines in her removal proceedings. After the withdrawal, the Immigration Judge denied her request for more time and required her to proceed without counsel.

The Court held that the denial of a continuance violated the respondent’s statutory right to counsel under 8 USC 1229a(b)(4)(A). The Court found that the BIA failed to account for the practical effect of the intervening document deadline when evaluating how much time the respondent had to secure new counsel. The Court vacated the removal order and remanded for the BIA to address prejudice in the first instance.

The full text of Rodriguez-Solis v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/241937.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Finds Matter of K- Inapplicable in Relief Context

The Fourth Circuit has determined that the procedural requirements of Matter of K- which relate to admissions to the elements of certain types of crimes - is inapplicable in the relief from removal context. Thus, the agency was not required to comply with K- before finding that an individual who admitted to using and selling drugs lacked good moral character and was ineligible for cancellation of removal. The Court also noted that the concerns of K- did not apply when the non-citizen was represented by counsel and providing the admission under oath.

The full text of Diaz v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/241062.P.pdf

Fourth Circuit Finds that NC Prayer for Judgment Continued is Conviction

The Fourth Circuit has determined that a North Carolina prayer for judgment continued - following completion of court-directed community service - is a conviction for immigration purposes.

The full text of Gardner v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/241553.P.pdf