Immigrants received a near-unanimous victory from the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday morning in a case involving a Brazil native who did not receive a specific time and date to show up for a removal proceeding.
The court ruled 8-1 in favor of Wescley Fonseca Pereira against Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who filed a brief in the case in March, and overturned the First Circuit Court of Appeals decision that the so-called stop-time rule was in effect when Pereira failed to show for a status hearing.
Pereira originally came to the U.S. in 2000 and overstayed his visa. In 2006, DHS served him a notice to appear, but it never gave an exact date and time. DHS later sent him a date and time but it was not received by Pereira and he never showed. He was later arrested in March 2013 for a driving violation, and after DHS attempted to remove him, Pereira challenged that his removal could be canceled by claiming he never received a notice.
Immigrants who have significant ties to the country—those who have been in the U.S. for over 10 consecutive years—are subject to special discretionary relief. Pereira would be eligible if the time clock did not stop with his 2006 notice.