EOIR PM 25-39

OOD PM 25-39 Effective: August 8, 2025 To: All of EOIR From: Sirce E. Owen, Acting Director Date: August 8, 2025 CANCELLATION OF OPERATING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES MEMORANDUM 93-1 PURPOSE: To cancel and replace Operating Policies and Procedures Memorandum 93-1 OWNER: Office of the Director AUTHORITY: 8 C.F.R. § 1003.0(b) CANCELLATION: Operating Policies and Procedures Memorandum 93-1 On May 6, 1993, EOIR issued Operating Policies and Procedures Memorandum (OPPM) 93-1: Immigration Judge Decisions and Immigration Judge Orders. A significant portion of the information in OPPM 93-1 is now outdated. Accordingly, this Policy Memorandum (PM) cancels and replaces OPPM 93-1 by republishing and appropriately updating the pertinent guidance on the issuance of Immigration Judge decisions and orders. I. Written Decisions This PM maintains existing EOIR policy requiring all written (reserved) decisions to be issued as follows: • Detained Case – written decision must be issued within 10 business days from the final hearing date. • Non-Detained Case – written decision must be issued within 60 calendar days from the final hearing date.

Approval to extend the time for issuing a written decision must be obtained from the appropriate Assistant Chief Immigration Judge. Additionally, if Immigration Court resources are limited such that an Immigration Judge is unable to timely meet these deadlines—for example, the Immigration Court does not have an available law clerk—the Assistant Chief Immigration Judge may seek assistance from another Immigration Court. II. Oral Decisions An oral decision shall be stated by the Immigration Judge in the presence of the respondent and the DHS counsel, if any, at the conclusion of the hearing.

See 8 C.F.R. §§ 1003.37(a), 1240.13(b). A copy of the summary written order shall be furnished at the request of the respondent or the DHS counsel. See 8 C.F.R. § 1240.13(b). An oral decision must be separate from all testimony and be made on the record after the parties have rested their case.

See, e.g., Matter of A-P-, 22 I&N Dec. 468, 476–77 (BIA 1999). The oral decision must be identified on the record as “the decision of the Immigration Judge.” III. In Absentia Orders The regulations concerning in absentia hearings and orders are codified at 8 C.F.R. § 1003.26.

See also EOIR Policy Manual, Part II, Ch. 4.17 (“In Absentia Hearing”). Additionally, consistent with longstanding practice, decisions memorializing in absentia orders of removal must be rendered on the same date as the scheduled hearing for which the alien failed to appear. IV. Immigration Judge Orders Immigration Judges have utilized form orders to communicate decisions to parties in proceedings since EOIR’s creation.

Presently, Immigration Judge orders are available only in Judicial Tools, an application within the EOIR Courts and Appeals System (ECAS) suite. Judicial Tools orders should be completed electronically and used in all cases. Requests to add form orders to Judicial Tools or to modify existing orders should be sent to the appropriate Assistant Chief Immigration Judge and considered by the Regional Deputy Chief Immigration Judge. This PM is not intended to, does not, and may not be relied upon to create, any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

Nothing herein should be construed as mandating a particular outcome in any specific case. Nothing in this PM limits an adjudicator’s independent judgment and discretion in adjudicating cases or an adjudicator’s authority under applicable law. Please contact your supervisor if you have any questions.