My friend is in removal proceedings. The IJ (Immigration Judge) issued a decision last month denying asylum. My friend wants to appeal to the BIA. The IJ's decision cited Matter of A-B- for the particular social group standard, but the BIA overturned Matter of A-B- in Matter of L-E-A-. However, my friend's IJ decision was issued after Matter of L-E-A- was published. Does my friend have a strong appeal argument? What is the exact BIA precedent that controls, and what must the BIA do if the IJ applied the wrong standard?
No—you don’t have a strong appeal merely because the IJ cited A‑B‑; S‑S‑F‑M‑ reinstated A‑B‑ I and II, so you must show the IJ misapplied current law or circuit law, and if correcting that requires new factfinding the BIA must remand.
This is still very workable: you can file the appeal on time and focus it on an actual current‑law error and why fixing it changes the result.
