WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., announced today the appointment John H. Guendelsberger as a new member of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The BIA is part of the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review located in Falls Church, Va., and is responsible for hearing appeals of decisions rendered by immigration judges or certain Department of Homeland Security officers. It is the highest administrative body for interpreting and applying Federal immigration laws.

Mr. Guendelsberger has served as senior counsel to BIA’s board chairman since October 2003. During this time, from May 2007 to July 2009, he has served as a temporary board member. He previously served as a board member from September 1995 to October 2003.

Mr. Guendelsberger worked for three years as a staff attorney with Ohio Legal Rights Service, a state agency advocating the rights of persons with mental or developmental disabilities. From 1980 to 1995, he was a professor of law at Ohio Northern University College of Law where he specialized in immigration law, comparative law and international law. Mr. Guendelsberger has written numerous articles in the area of immigration law and has represented aliens on a pro bono basis before Immigration Judges and the Board.

He received his juris doctorate from Ohio State University College of Law in 1977. Mr. Guendelsberger also earned a number of advanced degrees in law including a master of laws degree and a doctor of science of law degree from Columbia University School of Law and a diploma of advanced studies from the University of Paris (Pantheon-Sorbonne). He is a member of the Ohio Bar.

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