Dear Friends,
On June 21, 2018 a decision from the Supreme Court [1] came down in favor of an undocumented immigrant that was in removal / deportation proceedings. This decision may have a big impact for certain immigrants who have orders of removal or are in removal proceedings.
The Supreme Court’s decision is important because the Court has concluded that Notices to Appear (NTAs) with a non-specified date and/or time, do not qualify as a proper Notice under the law and any removal proceedings that followed were improper.
If someone is currently in removal proceedings and has been issued a non-specific NTA, he or she can now request that the proceedings start again, which if granted, may make them eligible for a new type of relief if there were changes in their situation since the deportation notice was issued (i.e. the person got married with a US citizen/ Us resident, etc. ), or at a minimum, may provide them with additional time in the United States. If someone already has an order of removal or deportation, and their proceedings began with a non-specific NTA, then he or she can petition to reopen the proceedings [2], which may eliminate the order of removal / deportation and allow them to fight their case again.
A Notice to Appear (NTA) is a document issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) when it wants to initiate proceedings to remove a person from the United States. An NTA contains important information, such as the person’s citizenship, how they entered the United States, and why DHS wants to remove him or her (i.e. overstaying a visa, being convicted of certain criminal charges, etc.).
A person can receive an NTA in a variety of ways. The following are some common examples:
- When someone is detained entering the United States at the border, the Immigration officials usually issue an NTA.
- When a person in the US is arrested or charged with a crime, this can lead to Immigration getting involved and discovering a person’s undocumented status. Immigration will then issue an NTA to the person so that he or she can start removal proceedings before an Immigration Judge.
- When someone applies for a benefit (i.e. TPS, adjustment of status, asylum, etc.) and the application is denied or cannot be approved by the USCIS. The USCIS may then issue an NTA.
See a sample of a Notice to Appear (NTA) [3] that does not contain a specified time and/or date to appear before the court, which you can use to compare with your NTA.
If you received an NTA that did not contain a specific time and/or date, please contact our office in Boston to make an appointment with one of our immigration lawyers [4] to explore your options, at 617-523-6320 (ext. 0) [5]. You may also schedule your appointment online [6]. Please forward this information to your contacts as it stands to benefit many immigrants and it is therefore important to share it.
Respectfully,
The FitzGerald Law Company Team
Successful track record serving the Massachusetts Community for over 20 years with all their legal needs.