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Scary as hell. In particular, the only "negative factor" required is illegal presence. samsramblingss.substack.com/p/judge-desa...

samsramblingss.substack.com

Judge Desai’s Dirty Trick

Granting Withholding means asylum can be discretionarily denied

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 9h

More on P-A-C-. in particular, a reminder that "negative factors" could be nothing more than illegal presence (DUIs or other factors not required) and the weighing is essentially unreviewable. samsramblingss.substack.com/p/judge-desa...

samsramblingss.substack.com

Judge Desai’s Dirty Trick

Granting Withholding means asylum can be discretionarily denied

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 10h

"Matter of P-A-C-", Judge Desai's Dirty Trick, and the end of asylum? samsramblingss.substack.com/p/judge-desa...

samsramblingss.substack.com

Judge Desai’s Dirty Trick

Granting Withholding means asylum can be discretionarily denied

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

What's the opposite of "artificial" or "super" intelligence? I propose "mesointelligence" as the best term for whatever it is that we fleshy beings think we're doing.

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Great post from Cyrus Mehta: "DHS General Counsel James Percival’s letter to AILA is troubling because it largely collapses the distinction between fraud, frivolousness, and a claim that the government ultimately finds unpersuasive." blog.cyrusmehta.com/2026/09/when...

blog.cyrusmehta.com

When Government Threats Collide with the Ethics of Asylum Representation | The Insightful Immigration Blog

DHS General Counsel James Percival’s September 15, 2026 letter to the American Immigration Lawyers Association is troubling not because it reminds lawyers that fraud and frivolous filings are prohibit...

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

CECOT? or 26 Federal Plaza?

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

"Decisions about immigration and related enforcement policies are largely committed to the political branches of our government – Congress and the Executive, not the courts. But there are limits." www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/defaul...

nysd.uscourts.gov

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Once again @asylumist.bsky.social hits the nail on the head. "The intellectual courage to seek out the truth in the face of the Administration’s lies, and the moral courage to stand up to our government’s demeaning “humor.”" asylumist.com/2026/09/16/t...

asylumist.com

The Courage to Save Our Souls - The Asylumist

I was struck by a recent article in Christianity Today, The Trump-Era Laughter at Immigrant Suffering Is Deforming Our Souls, by Russell Moore. The article discusses the “funny” memes, songs, and joke...

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Reposted by Sam Nelson

Austin Kocher, PhD @austinkocher.com · 02/10/2026

Courts add to the count too. In absentia removal orders reached 53,808 in June, up 55%, after last-minute "mega-master" hearings began, per bklg.org data. @deportationdata.bsky.social

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

"Since the US-led invasion toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein, the Christian community had dwindled by 83%, from around 1.5 million to just 250,000. Christianity in Iraq, one of the oldest Churches in the world, is perilously close to extinction." samsramblingss.substack.com/p/hes-no-sai...

samsramblingss.substack.com

He’s no saint. Should he be a martyr?

Appealing denial of reopening for CAT protection based on changed conditions

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

"Since the US-led invasion toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein, the Christian community had dwindled by 83%, from around 1.5 million to just 250,000. Christianity in Iraq, one of the oldest Churches, is perilously close to extinction." samsramblingss.substack.com/p/hes-no-sai...

samsramblingss.substack.com

He’s no saint. Should he be a martyr?

Appealing denial of reopening for CAT protection based on changed conditions

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Since the US-led invasion toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein, the Christian community had dwindled by 83%, from around 1.5 million to just 250,000. Christianity in Iraq, one of the oldest Churches, is perilously close to extinction. samsramblingss.substack.com/p/hes-no-sai...

samsramblingss.substack.com

He’s no saint. Should he be a martyr?

Appealing denial of reopening for CAT protection based on changed conditions

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

When feelings overwhelm you and the tears well in your eyes and you think of the thousands who surround you there’s one ideal above all others: that mighty . . . ROAR OF THE STANDS! samsramblingss.substack.com/p/if-only-he...

samsramblingss.substack.com

If only he’d played better

Soccer player beaten by fans, denied asylum for lack of nexus (and other reasons)

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Go Teamsters! Walkout yesterday at an Amazon warehouse.

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Yep, for crime victims who aid police, that's a four-year waiting list before you can receive the "protection" of being on the ten-year waiting list. I think even Kafka would be impressed. U VISA APPELLANTS v Director, Court of Appeals, No. 24-6824, 9th Circuit 2026

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"Before U-visa petitioners can receive the interim relief available to those on the waiting list, they must be placed on the waiting list. But there is also a backlog for waitlist adjudications. In 2019, it took 42 months to decide if a U-visa petitioner should be placed on the waiting list."

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Across these barriers of race, age, culture, language, and trauma, there couldn’t have been any meaningful communication. This wasn’t “testimony”. This was a frightened kid. On what possible basis could a judge make any findings about credibility?

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

samsramblingss.substack.com/p/a-child-in...

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

It’s hard to see how the same logic couldn’t be used to discretionarily deny pretty much any asylum claim.

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Wu v. Blanche, No. 25-5371, slip op. at 2–3 (9th Cir. Sept. 22, 2026) (mem.) (not for publication) This is the Ninth Circuit accepting Matter of P-A-C-. But I hadn’t seen it applied where the only negative equity was an illegal entry.

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

“Well, that’s it for asylum”. 1. Granted Withholding... 2. so no danger of persecution... 3. so the overwhelming positive equity for asylum has been removed... 4. so the negative equity, illegal entry, outweighs... 5. so asylum can be denied as a matter of discretion. QED

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

In the real world, this case starts in 1965, when the United States encouraged the genocide against the Maya peoples. It ends in 2018, when a judge looked into a child’s eyes and chose to send him back. samsramblingss.substack.com/p/a-child-in...

samsramblingss.substack.com

A child in the witness chair

Adverse credibility finding for a 14-year-old witness with no interpreter

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Reposted by Sam Nelson

Greenberg Visa Law @asgvisalaw.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

No, we shouldn't expect a BIA precedent forged that has held for over 80 years to stand. Why do you ask?

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

So the plan is for the Washington Arch to be a giant Flock camera with guns? Am I reading that right?

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Reposted by Sam Nelson

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Stay tuned for more on this from mainstream reporting hopefully later today, but Bob's got the gist of it; last week, it appears that ICE began disappearing people from the Online Detainee Locator System the moment they get a final order of removal. Yes, this is as deeply screwed up as it sounds.

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

"Based on the foregoing, we cannot affirm the Immigration Judge's credibility finding." The original IJ has since been fired, so it'll go to a newly-appointed IJ.

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

"DHS observes that the applicant testified in his reasonable fear interview that he protested for 2 to 3 days and was thereafter beaten with a rock and stabbed in the hand, but later testified that he protested for 3 to 4 days and that he had a rock thrown at him and was stabbed in the arm."

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Saw this in a recent BIA decision. DHS appealing a positive credibility finding -- on a trivial set of inconsistencies -- and winning a remand.

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Obviously, what happened while he was a police officer provides evidence of danger after he resigns. The existing “perverse” “absurd” “illogical” precedent “makes no sense”, and courts should be allowed to consider all the evidence. samsramblingss.substack.com/p/absurd-ill...

samsramblingss.substack.com

Absurd, illogical, perverse, makes no sense

Ninth Circuit panel precluded from considering threats to a police officer

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Tazo accidentally said he was born in Bamenda, Cameroon. He was technically born in a suburb of the city. It's like being born in Larchmont and saying you're a "New Yorker". It was enough to doom his asylum claim. samsramblingss.substack.com/p/suburban-t...

samsramblingss.substack.com

Suburban tragedy

A trivial inconsistency at a border interview means a doomed asylum claim

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Reposted by Sam Nelson

Ximena Bustillo @ximenabustillo.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

SCOOP: Immigrants are being rapidly reassigned to in-person immigration court hearings at buildings that are not immigration courts + with minimal notice. The pop-up courts come as EOIR is looking to rapidly acquire space throughout the country. www.npr.org/2026/09/04/g...

npr.org

'Hidden tribunals:' Immigration court due process in tumult with new locations

The new effort appears to be another tactic in a broader Trump administration strategy to short-circuit immigrants' already limited due process options in order to speed deportations.

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Matter of P-A-C-: We granted Withholding, so you're no longer in danger, so we can deny asylum as an (effectively unreviewable) matter of discretion. (... so we can deport you to a third country and pretend not to notice when you're refouled.)

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

"Shadow docket" means never having to say you're sorry, or explain yourself at all. PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING OF THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS v. US DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit 2026

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

My bet: president waves the "national security" banner and files an emergency application to stay the injunction, and the Supreme Court quietly uses the shadow docket to give him anything he asks for. Any takers?

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Would love to see how the Supreme Court handles this. Which faction will win, "the government can't touch churches" or "the president can do anything he wants"?

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Fourth Circuit just ruled on the preliminary injunction re. the administration's policy of immigration enforcement in sensitive locations (e.g. churches). Held that the plaintiffs probably had standing and were likely to win on the merits, so it affirmed the preliminary injunction.

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Imagine a family constantly surrounded by a crew of bodyguards. Most observers might think this shows that they are in danger. But the BIA cites the very bodyguards as evidence that they are safe. samsramblingss.substack.com/p/with-all-t...

samsramblingss.substack.com

With all these big strong men to protect you

Ability to hire private security undermines “objectively reasonable” fear of future persecution

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

"I reached out to an expert who has been representing Iraqi refugees for many years. He explained that both questions have the same answer: in 2008, it was simply unthinkable to deport a Christian to Iraq." samsramblingss.substack.com/p/hes-no-sai...

samsramblingss.substack.com

He’s no saint. Should he be a martyr?

Appealing denial of reopening for CAT protection based on changed conditions

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Reposted by Sam Nelson

Yael Schacher @yaelschacher.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I am just realizing right now how this perverse decision allows for upending of our protection system and fuels third country deportations. LORD. www.justice.gov/eoir/media/1...

justice.gov

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

A Chaldean Christian man threatened with deportation to Iraq: "Christianity in Iraq, one of the oldest Churches, if not the oldest Church in the world, is perilously close to extinction. Those of us who remain must be ready to face martyrdom." samsramblingss.substack.com/p/hes-no-sai...

samsramblingss.substack.com

He’s no saint. Should he be a martyr?

Appealing denial of reopening for CAT protection based on changed conditions

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

As a child who grew up in a combat zone, the last episode of M*A*S*H might have been too much. But he was old enough to watch Sam Malone slice the first lemon on Cheers.

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Sam Nelson @immlaw.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Just drafted this for tomorrow's post: Eight-year-old Sawa moved to America in time for Pac-Man, the space shuttle, and “where’s the beef?”. He missed bell-bottoms, but was with us for New Coke, ET, and Rubik’s Cube. ...

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