Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a recent decision that restored immigration judges’ authority to terminate removal proceedings in Matter of Coronado Acevedo. Matter of Coronado Acevedo , 28 I&N Dec. 648 (A.G. 2022) overruled a prior decision by then Attorney General Jeff Sessions that held that immigration judges “have no inherent authority to terminate or dismiss removal proceedings.” Matter of S-O-G- & F-D-B- , 27 I&N Dec. 462 (A.G. 2018) Id. at 463. This prior decision adversely impacted many noncitizens, particularly those with applications for collateral relief pending before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, such as T and U visa applicants, DACA applicants, and Violence Against Women Act self-petitioners. In those decisions the AG relied on his own reasoning from Matter of Castro-Tum , 27 I&N Dec. 271 (A.G. 2018) (a decision he issued earlier this year that restricts IJs’ and Board of Immigration Appeals’ authority to control the
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