On Thursday, the Supreme Court found that in order for an immigrant to be deported, the government must properly notify the individual on one document, rather than across several. While a technical issue, the ruling could affect hundreds of thousands of immigration cases. In a nutshell, a notice to appear (NTA) will be considered deficient if it is missing relevant information, such as the date and time of a removal hearing. Deficient NTAs no longer will trigger the “stop-time” rule, which starts when the government initiates removal proceedings and “stops the clock” on accumulated presence in the U.S. Deportations may be cancelled if an immigrant has been in the U.S. for at least 10 years, but the 10-year clock is paused when an NTA is issued. Now, the Supreme Court’s ruling held that an NTA can only trigger the “stop-time” rule if all relevant deportation and hearing information is on one document.  

Posted in: Immigration