Baez-Sanchez v. Sessions

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Immigration
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 16-3784
Decision Date: 
October 6, 2017
Federal District: 
Petition for Review, Order of Bd. of Immigration Appeals
Holding: 
Petition granted

Bd. erred in finding that IJ lacked authority to grant alien’s request to waive alien’s inadmissibility (and thus to temporarily halt alien’s removal) while alien seeks U visa from Department of Homeland Security, where Bd.’s finding was based on conclusion that 8 CFR section 1003.10(b) did not include such power when describing powers and duties of IJ. Ct. of Appeals found that such power was theoretically included in 8 CFR section 1003.10(a), where that section grants IJ ability to exercise Attorney General’s powers over immigration. Remand, though, was required for Bd. to address Attorney General’s argument that: (1) Attorney General himself has no authority to grant waivers of inadmissibility to aliens seeking U visas; and (2) if Attorney General does possess such authority, it could only be used with respect to aliens who seek such relief prior to entering U.S.