An immigration judge can end your removal case without a deportation order through what’s called termination of removal proceedings. Under the federal regulation that took effect on July 29, 2024, the judge must terminate in six specified situations and may terminate in two more. When termination is granted, the case ends and you return to whatever immigration status you held before the government put you in court.1eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.18 – Docket Management
Termination Compared to Closure and Dismissal
Termination is the formal end of your removal case without any order deporting you. It is not the same as administrative closure, which only takes the case off the judge’s active calendar and can be reversed later by either side. It is also not the same as dismissal, which typically addresses technical defects in the charging document or the government’s failure to prove its case.
The practical value of termination usually comes down to jurisdiction. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services cannot process certain applications while a removal case is open against you. Ending the case clears that block and lets USCIS handle whatever benefit you’re seeking.
When a Judge Must Terminate Your Case
The 2024 regulation at 8 CFR 1003.18(d) lists six mandatory grounds. If any one applies, the judge is required to end the proceedings.1eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.18 – Docket Management
- The charges cannot be sustained. If the Department of Homeland Security cannot prove you are deportable, inadmissible, or excludable as charged, the case ends.
- A fair hearing is impossible. If you are mentally incompetent and adequate safeguards are unavailable, the judge must terminate because the proceeding cannot be fundamentally fair.
- You became a U.S. citizen after proceedings began. Citizens cannot be subject to removal.
- You obtained a qualifying status after proceedings began. This covers lawful permanent residence, refugee status, asylee status, and S, T, or U nonimmigrant status. The status must not have been revoked, and you must not have been removable had you held that status before proceedings started.
- Both parties agree, or one moves and the other does not oppose. The judge must generally grant these motions and can refuse only by articulating “unusual, clearly identified, and supported reasons.”
- Termination is otherwise required by law, meaning some other statute or regulation independently compels it.
The joint or unopposed motion provision is worth flagging. If your attorney and the DHS trial attorney both sign off, termination is essentially guaranteed. That was not always true under earlier decisions that constrained judges from acting even on agreed motions.
When a Judge May Choose to Terminate
Two discretionary grounds also appear in the regulation. Here the judge weighs the reasons for termination against any basis for opposition.1eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.18 – Docket Management
- You are an unaccompanied child who has filed an asylum application with USCIS under the statute giving USCIS initial jurisdiction over those claims. The judge may terminate to let USCIS handle the asylum case.
- You appear prima facie eligible for naturalization, relief from removal, or a lawful immigration status, and USCIS would have jurisdiction to process the application if you were not in proceedings.
The prima facie eligibility ground is the one most people rely on. It covers, for example, someone with an approved family-based petition who appears eligible to adjust status through USCIS. The standard is that you appear to qualify on the face of the evidence, not that you are certain to win. For adjustment of status and naturalization, you don’t even need to have filed the application yet.
Termination to Pursue a Green Card
Adjustment of status while you’re in removal proceedings works differently than most applicants expect. Under 8 CFR 1245.2, the immigration judge generally has exclusive jurisdiction over an adjustment application filed by someone in proceedings.2eCFR. 8 CFR 1245.2 – Application You file Form I-485 with the court, and the judge decides it. Termination is not always necessary or even helpful.
Termination makes sense when the judge cannot handle the application, or when USCIS is better positioned to adjudicate it. Common examples include cases requiring consular processing abroad, or situations where a procedural barrier prevents the judge from reaching the merits. In those cases, the discretionary ground for prima facie eligibility supports ending the proceedings so USCIS can take over.
Termination to Pursue Naturalization
Naturalization creates a specific catch. Federal law prohibits USCIS from considering an N-400 while removal proceedings are pending.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1429 – Prerequisite to Naturalization; Burden of Proof The immigration judge has no authority to grant citizenship either.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. N-400, Application for Naturalization Neither adjudicator can act while both situations coexist.
The 2024 regulation resolves this. If you are prima facie eligible for naturalization, the judge may terminate the removal case so USCIS can adjudicate your N-400. You don’t need to have filed the application yet. If USCIS approves, any renewed removal effort would be moot because citizens cannot be removed. If USCIS denies, DHS could refile removal charges.
T Visas, U Visas, and Trafficking Relief
T and U visa applications go through USCIS even while removal proceedings are pending. DHS may agree to a joint motion to terminate or administratively close the case while USCIS considers the T visa.5U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual – Applicants in Removal Proceedings If USCIS approves the T visa, the approval cancels any existing removal order by operation of law, and you can then file a motion to reopen and terminate any remaining proceedings.
Approval of T or U nonimmigrant status also triggers mandatory termination under 8 CFR 1003.18(d), assuming the status has not been revoked and you would not have been removable had you held that status before proceedings started.1eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.18 – Docket Management
If the Judge Denies Your Motion to Terminate
Immediate review of a termination denial is difficult. The Board of Immigration Appeals does not normally entertain interlocutory appeals, which ask the Board to review a ruling before the judge issues a final decision. The Board generally limits interlocutory review to important jurisdictional questions or recurring procedural issues.6Executive Office for Immigration Review. EOIR Policy Manual – 3.14 Interlocutory Appeals
Most denied termination motions get reviewed only after the judge enters a final order. At that point you file a regular appeal on Form EOIR-26 and raise the termination denial as one of your grounds. If the Board agrees termination should have been granted, it can remand with instructions to terminate. Interlocutory filings must include the date of the judge’s decision, the precise issue, and a copy of any written ruling. Most practitioners treat that route as a long shot.
What Termination Does and Does Not Do
Termination is procedural, not substantive. It ends your current case without a removal order, but it does not grant you any new immigration status. You return to whatever status you held before proceedings began. If that status was unlawful, you remain in a precarious position.
Termination is also typically granted without prejudice. DHS keeps the authority to issue a new Notice to Appear and start a fresh removal case if circumstances warrant. A common sequence: your case is terminated so you can adjust status through USCIS, USCIS denies the application, and DHS then refiles removal charges. Before filing a motion to terminate, it’s worth asking whether termination genuinely advances your situation or only delays an outcome that will come around again.