# United States Court **of Appeals**  **f or the Fifth Circuit** 

No. 20

- 60866 Summary Calendar

**Reina Elizabeth Ramirez De Ayala,**

Petitioner **,**

versus **Merrick Garland,** U.S. Attorney General **,** Respondent

**.**

Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals BIA No. A209 962 870

Before **Higginbotham, Higginson,** and **Duncan,** Circuit Judges

. **Per Curiam :**  * Reina Elizabeth Ramirez De Ayala , a native and citizen of El Salvador, petitions for review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirming the denial by an Immigration Judge (IJ) of her motion to reopen and to rescind in the absentia removal order enter ed against her. In her petition

* Pursuant to **5th Cir cuit**  **R ule**  47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in **5th Cir cuit**  **R ule**  47.5.4. United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit 

### FILED June 15, 2022 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Case: 20-60866 Document: 00516358254 Page: 1 Date Filed: 06/15/2022No. 20

- 60866

2 for review, Ramirez De Ayala argues that she established exceptional circumstances to justify reopening her immigration proceedings based on her mother’s death. Further, Ramirez De Ayala argues that the IJ lacked jurisdict ion over her immigration proceedings because the notice to appear ( NTA ) was defective for not including a time and date for her removal hearing , in violation of Pereira v. Sessions , 138 S. Ct. 2105 (2018) . Because the NTA was defective, Ramirez De Ayala also contends that the in absentia removal order was invalid.
In Pereira , the Supreme Court held that a n NTA that fails to inform an alien of when and where to appear is invalid and therefore does not trigger the stop

- tim e rule of 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(d), ending the period of continuous presence in the United States for purposes of cancellation of removal. 138 S. Ct. at 2109

- 10. After Pereira , we held that a perfected NTA triggers the stop

time rule when an alien receives al l required information, whether in one document or more. Pierre

- Paul v. Barr , 930 F.3d 684, 690

- 91 (5th Cir. 2019). Further, we held that , even if the NTA w ere defective and could not be cured, the regulation governing the NTA constitutes a claim process ing rule, rather than a jurisdictional rule. Id. at 69 1

- 93. Therefore, an invalid NTA did not deprive an IJ of jurisdiction. See Martinez

- Lopez v. Barr , 943 F.3d 766,
7 69

- 70 (5th Cir. 2019)

. The Supreme Court rejected th e two

- step process endorsed by Pi erre
Paul , holding that an NTA is inadequate to trigger the stop

- time rule unless it contains the time and place of the proceedings. Niz

- Chavez v. Garland , 141 S. Ct. 1474, 148 4

- 86 (2021). Applying Niz

- Chavez , we have held that, in the context of in absentia removal orders, a single document containing the statutory information is required for the alien to receive proper notice. Rodriguez v. Garland , 15 F.4th 351 , 355 (5th Cir. 2021). Niz

- Chavez did not address whethe r an inadequate NTA is insufficient to vest the immigration court with jurisdiction. See Niz

- Chavez , 141 S. Ct. at 1479

- 80, 1485

. On that Case: 20-60866 Document: 00516358254 Page: 2 Date Filed: 06/15/2022No. 20

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3 question, Pierre

- Paul is distinguishable and remains good law. See Rodriguez , 15 F.4th at 355; Maniar v. Garland , 9 98 F.3d 235, 242 & n.2 (5th Cir. 2021 )

. However, Rodriguez specifically held that an NTA that does not specify the date and time of the hearing is defective in the context of in absentia removal hearings. Rodriguez , 15 F.4th at 355

- 56. Ramirez De Ayala’s NTA was invalid because it did not include the date and time of her removal hearing, and the deficiency was not cured by subsequent notices. See id. Accordingly, Ramirez De Ayala’s petition for review is **GRANTED** , the BIA’s decision is **VACATED** , and the case is **REMANDED**

**.** Case: 20-60866 Document: 00516358254 Page: 3 Date Filed: 06/15/2022