Under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (“IIRAIRA”), the number of suspension of deportation (now called “cancellation of removal”) approvals permitted in a single fiscal year is limited to just 4,000. In mid-February, the American Immigration Lawyers Association learned that with more than half of the fiscal year remaining, the limit of 4,000 has been nearly reached.
The effects of this development on cancellation of removal cases yet to be decided is not clear. Immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals have been ordered to stop granting approvals, though they have been requested to record the date and time when a case is “conditionally approved” since one of several options being considered now is the establishment of a priority date system for visas similar to that which is currently used in family and employment-based immigration cases.
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