Policy Alert: Policy Manual Updates for VAWA
Reviews USCIS policy-manual updates issued on December 22, 2025 affecting VAWA adjudication and flags the practical consequences for current filings.
Practice resources
Search immigration practice advisories, sample filings, manuals, brief banks, and government guidance from trusted practitioner sources.
Reviews USCIS policy-manual updates issued on December 22, 2025 affecting VAWA adjudication and flags the practical consequences for current filings.
Breaks down USCIS policy-manual updates on 8 U.S.C. 1367 confidentiality protections and highlights what practitioners should watch in sensitive filings.
Arkansas 2015 U and T visa certification law requiring that each law enforcement agency in the state adopt a policy for the completion and signing of T and U certifications within 30 days of receiving the request.
Nvart Idinyan (formerly Nvart Huckfeldt) (August 9 2005) Board of Immigration Appeals. The National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women, represented by Crowell and Moring, filed this amicus in support of the immigration judge’s finding that plaintiff qualified for cancellation of removal under VAWA and refuting DHS assertion that once a victim reached a “safe house” she should no longer have access to VAWA provisions. (Crowell and Moring, Pro Bono)
Perales-Cumpean, A76 386 969, Board of Immigration Appeals (2001), U.S. Court of Appeals 10th Circuit (2003). Amicus brief discussing the any credible evidence standard and the definition of battery or extreme cruelty in an immigrant rape and domestic violence victim’s Violence Against Women Act suspension of deportation case (National immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, BIA, Arnold and Porter, Pro Bono 10th Circuit)
Call and message your members of Congress telling them to oppose any effort to give ICE and Border Patrol more funding.
Human Rights First practice advisory describing possible bases for pretermission in immigration court and explaining how to prepare for, and respond to, motions to pretermit a client’s asylum claim. Last updated on January 23, 2026.
Call and message your members of Congress telling them to oppose any effort to give ICE and Border Patrol more funding.
Call and message your members of Congress telling them to oppose any effort to give ICE and Border Patrol more funding.
IMPORTANT: On February 6, 2026, the Fifth Circuit ruled in Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi , No. 25-20496, that noncitizens in removal proceedings who have not been admitted are subject to "mandatory" detention under 8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(2)(A). This resource has not been updated since the Buenrostro decision. If you are filing a habeas petition in a district within the Fifth Circuit, you will need to adapt your legal claims in light of the Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi decision, e.g. by focusing on constitu
Quick guide on detention-release arguments for SIJS youth, including practical reminders on posture, custody, and the limits of older detention assumptions.
On December 22, 2025, DHS published a final rule impacting processing of FOIA requests by all DHS components. The rule is effective January 22, 2026. Despite the major changes made by the rule, no period of public comment was provided. The rule eliminates paper filing of FOIA requests with DHS as of January 22, 2026. FOIAs to DHS must be filed online after that date. The rule also states that DHS can, in its discretion, administratively close or make “requests for clarification” where it deems t