The Board of Immigration Appeals has determined that an attorney is at fault for missing a briefing schedule that was in her spam folder.
“The respondents argue that the Board’s prior decision rests on the factually incorrect premise that they were granted the opportunity to submit a brief or statement in support of the appeal. Specifically, the respondents argue that they expected the briefing schedule to be sent in paper form as the Notice of Appeal was filed in paper form and the appeal receipt notice from the Board was sent in paper form. While the respondents acknowledge that their counsel was served electronically with the briefing schedule, they assert that notice of the briefing schedule was delivered to their counsel’s spam folder and was not seen until after the Board dismissed the appeal. They argue reconsideration is warranted because they did not receive constructive or actual notice that their appeal had become an electronic record of proceedings, and they were operating under the expectation that all future correspondence from the Board would be in paper form.”
“We are not persuaded by the respondents’ claim that they were not provided actual or constructive notice that their case was electronic before the Board. On December 13, 2021, while the respondents were in removal proceedings before the Immigration Judge, EOIR announced through the issuance of a final rule that effective February 11, 2022, electronic filing would be mandatory before the Immigration Judge and the Board for cases eligible for electronic filing. See 86 Fed. Reg. at 70708, 70720–22. The instant case is a case eligible for electronic filing because it has an electronic record of proceedings. See 8 C.F.R. § 1001.1(cc) (2025). More importantly, the administrative record reflects that the case was eligible for electronic filing before the Immigration Judge and the respondents, represented by the same law firm below, both filed documents electronically and received electronic service of other EOIR-generated documents. Under these circumstances, the respondents had sufficient notice that their appeal was subject to the regulations regarding electronic service. “
The full text of Matter Arciniegas-Patino can be found here: https://www.justice.gov/d9/2025-01/4084.pdf