The American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association submitted the following comments in response to the Executive Office for Immigration Review proposed rule, Good Cause for a Continuance in Immigration Proceedings. Throughout the Proposed Rule, EOIR overturns decades of precedent and discretionary policies that have protected the ability of immigrants to have a fair day in court and seek Congressionally created remedies to the harsh penalty of deportation.

EOIR justifies these sweeping changes by claiming that they support “EOIR's mission of adjudicating cases expeditiously and efficiently,” but as the Supreme Court has made clear, “a myopic insistence upon expeditiousness in the face of a justifiable request for delay can render the right to defend with counsel an empty formality.” The Proposed Rule would rush respondents through court hearings without any meaningful opportunity to protect their rights. EOIR should immediately withdraw the proposed regulation.