Overruling Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly—a 2012 precedent decision holding that a person who leaves the United States temporarily with a grant of advance parole does not thereby make a “departure” under the Immigration and Nationality Act and thus does not trigger the 3- or 10-year bars to reentry into the United States—the Board of Immigration Appeals ruled on August 13, 2026, in Matter of Delcarmen-Lara that the term “departure” under the INA does not include an exception for such persons.
Jeff Joseph, President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, commented, “This ruling flip-flops on 14 years of well-settled law and policy. This decision punishes people for following the rules and jeopardizes people who have well-established lives in the U.S., including Dreamers protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, people with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and the immediate family of U.S. citizens with pending applications for their green cards. The new decision puts people at risk of being barred from the United States and separated from family for years if they leave and then try to re-enter—even if they have paid for and been granted permission to travel. … With Arrabally now gone, those affected will not be able to leave the country to see their families, attend funerals, or for education or employment purposes.”
