Putting up a Fight with NTAs

This presentation was part of day 1 of the 5th Annual Symposium.

El Paso Immigration Court and other courts across the country are dealing with the issue of improper Notice to Appears (NTAs). U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in El Paso was changing NTAs without re-serving the children and trying to tell the court it was a pen and ink change and thus permissible. We [practitioners at Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services (DMRS)] have dealt with several issues when it comes to NTAs in the past several years, but new and emerging case law around this issue has led to DMRS to constantly identify NTA issues and use existing law, policies, and new case law to fight these cases all the way up to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). We would like to share our challenges with our peers at a national level and teach them how to issue spot problematic NTAs, as CBP can be creative in what they try to get away with. Also, this presentation will cover the best ways to argue in court without waiving personal jurisdiction issues. We will explain practices including situation-specific examples, such as when to file written objections or make oral objections and how to prepare your arguments for appeal since many immigration judges are siding with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on these matters or allowing corrections to be made on the spot. Finally, this presentation will cover how to possibly take this into federal court.