BIA: Asylum Seekers Who Go Home Abandon Their Applications

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) — the DOJ administrative tribunal that reviews immigration decisions — recently issued an opinion in Matter of M-R-I-, concluding that applicants for asylum and related humanitarian protections who go back to their home countries on advance parole “absent compelling reasons for the return” abandon those applications. That’s common sense — if an alien claims a country is too dangerous to return to, he shouldn’t voluntarily go there — but let’s wait to see what the federal courts think — and how they analyze the administrative decisions.

'Advance Parole'

As the Legal Information Institute (LII) explains:

Advance parole is a travel document granting permission to certain foreign nationals to re-enter the U.S. after traveling abroad. These foreign nationals typically have applications pending for immigration benefits or for changes in non-citizen status. Advance parole must be obtained prior to leaving the U.S. Failure to do so may result in the foreign national being denied entry to the US and forfeiture of any pending application.

Aliens seeking advance parole (“AP”) must file a Form I-131, “Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records”, with USCIS, and if permission to travel is granted the alien will receive a Form I-512, “Advance Parole Document”.

AP itself is a form of “parole” under section 212(d)(5)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), an authority Congress granted to the DHS secretary to permit applicants for admission who are inadmissible to the United States (generally because they lack proper documents) to enter this country without being formally admitted.

As LII suggests, however, AP is more of a placeholder that permits aliens to depart and return than it is a formal release from DHS custody — which is how the Biden administration generally (ab)used its limited parole authority to funnel nearly three million inadmissible applicants for admission into the United States.