AILA President: Supreme Court Decision in Campos-Chaves Gives Government Free Pass and Undermines Due Process

Chicago, IL – Kelli Stump, President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), responded to today’s Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruling in Campos-Chaves v. Garland. The ruling today holds that someone can be removed in absentia, despite being initially served with a defective Notice to Appear (NTA) that does not provide them the date and time of their hearing.

“In 2018, in an 8-1 decision Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated that a NTA that does not inform a migrant ‘when and where to appear for removal proceedings is not a notice to appear.’ Five years later, in a 5-4 decision the Court has undermined this legal requirement. Rather than an independent immigration court holding the government to this basic responsibility, in our upside-down system, the judges are performing it for them. In no other court in America would we tolerate a judge acting as a prosecutor. This is yet another example of why we so desperately need an independent immigration court in order to have any chance of fairness and justice.”