Garland overturns Sessions opinion, allows immigration judges to pause deportation proceedings

Attorney General Merrick Garland issued an opinion Thursday recognizing the ability of immigration judges to administratively close a removal proceeding, which effectively removes a deportation case from the docket without technically disposing of the case.

"Because Castro-Tum departed from long-standing practice, it is appropriate to overrule that opinion in its entirety and restore administrative closure pending the reconsideration of the 2020 rule through notice-and-comment rulemaking, which will ‘afford[] all interested parties a full and fair opportunity to participate and ensure[] that the relevant facts and analysis are collected and evaluated,’" Garland wrote. Administrative closure, Garland argued, allows for greater flexibility in case management by allowing for cases to be put on hold so that they can more fully focus on other cases.