Motion to Terminate or Admin Close: What’s the Difference?

Angelica Rice • August 11, 2022

Click here to read this article in Portuguese

      The United States Immigration Court system is currently overwhelmed with hundreds of thousands of immigration cases that have yet to be adjudicated. In an effort to handle this volume of cases and clear out some of their backlogged cases, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Court, have relaxed their policies on terminating and administratively closing certain kinds of cases that they have deemed not to be enforcement priority cases. So, what does this mean? What is the difference between administratively closing a case or terminating a case? Is this something you want to pursue in your case? Keep reading to find out. 

Administrative Closure


    Administrative closure is a court docket management tool that is used to temporarily pause removal proceedings. Matter of W-Y-U-, 27 I&N Dec. 17, 18 (BIA 2017). “Admin closing” a case temporarily removes the case from the Immigration Judge’s active calendar and places it on hold until either the Department or the Respondent’s counsel makes a motion to “re-calendar” the case. In order to have your case admin closed, the Department must agree to administrative closure.

    Immigration Judges can administratively close cases for a variety of reasons, one of the most popular being that they are a low-priority or “not an enforcement priority” case and the Department does not wish to pursue adjudication of the case at this time. Another common reason for admin closure, is when a Respondent has other relief pending with USCIS, and the decision on that other relief would affect the Respondent’s Court case. For instance, if a Respondent has an I-130 petition currently pending with USCIS but is also in immigration proceedings, the Judge may agree to administratively close the Respondent’s case to await USCIS’ decision on the I-130. Meaning that no future hearings will be scheduled in the Respondent’s case until either the Department or Respondent’s counsel moves to put the case back on the Court’s active docket. If the I-130 is approved, the Respondent can then move to have their case re-calendared and ask for their Court case to be ultimately dismissed. While your case is administratively closed, in certain circumstances, you may still apply for a work permit.

Termination of Proceedings


    If you believe your case should not be before the Immigration Court at all, either because you have already been granted other relief or you were not properly placed in proceedings or for some other reason, the Respondent or their Counsel can file a Motion asking that their case be dismissed.

    Dismissal of Proceedings means that you no longer have a case with the Immigration Court. Under the current DHS and Court policies, the Department is encouraged to exercise their prosecutorial discretion and agree to dismiss cases that are not enforcement priorities; meaning that the Respondent is not a threat to National Security, does not have a criminal history, or they entered the United States prior to November 2020. However, if your Court case is dismissed and you are not eligible for any other relief and/or are unable to apply for relief with USCIS, then you will not be able to obtain a work permit and will simply be in the United States without status and without any immigration benefits. It is for this reason that sometimes Respondent’s choose not to seek termination and desire to go forward with their case in Court. 


      Determining whether or not any of these options are right for you can be complicated. You should consult one of our qualified immigration attorneys to determine if administrative closure or termination are right for you and your case. 


This blog is not intended to be legal advice and nothing here should be construed as establishing an attorney client relationship. Please schedule a consultation with an immigration attorney before acting on any information read here.

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