Council Submits Amicus Brief on Two-Step Notice Practice to Supreme Court in Niz-Chavez v. Barr

This amicus brief in Niz-Chavez v. Barr urges the Supreme Court to reject the government’s practice of issuing notice of the time and place of a noncitizen’s removal proceedings in multiple documents over time, instead of in the initial Notice to Appear (NTA), as mandated by Congress.

The brief argues that this two-step notice practice is deeply flawed, fosters inadequate notice, and is at odds with fundamental fairness and due process. The brief also provides examples of how individuals have been impacted by the two-step practice, including:

• Through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s misleading practice of issuing NTA with fake dates and times in a bad faith attempt to comply with notice requirements previously required by the Supreme Court in Pereira v. Sessions;
• Through delays between issuance of the original, incomplete NTA and receipt of a subsequent notice of hearing or amended NTA; and
• Through the heightened risk that individuals will miss their actual hearings and be removed in absentia, simply because the government failed to provide adequate notice or, worse still, provided inaccurate or deceptive notice.

The American Immigration Council filed this amicus brief with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, along with legal service providers.