Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/17-459_1o13.pdf
Page Number: 8

4 

PEREIRA v. SESSIONS 

Opinion of the Court 

cumstances, 
§1229(a)(1) (boldface added). 

to  appear  at 

such  proceedings.” 

The  statute  also  enables  the  Government  to  “change  or
postpon[e] . . . the time and place of [the removal] proceed-
ings.”  §1229(a)(2)(A).  To do so, the Government must give 
the noncitizen “a written notice . . . specifying . . . the new
time  or  place  of  the  proceedings”  and  “the  consequences
. . .  of  failing,  except  under  exceptional  circumstances,  to 
attend  such  proceedings.”  Ibid.   The  Government  is  not  
required to provide written notice of the change in time or 
place of the proceedings if the noncitizen is “not in deten-
tion” and “has failed to provide [his] address” to the  Gov-
ernment.  §1229(a)(2)(B).

The consequences of a noncitizen’s failure to appear at a
removal  proceeding  can  be  quite  severe.    If  a  noncitizen 
who  has  been  properly  served  with  the  “written  notice
required  under  paragraph  (1)  or  (2)  of  section  1229(a)”
fails  to  appear  at  a  removal  proceeding,  he  “shall  be  or-
dered removed in absentia” if the Government “establishes 
by  clear,  unequivocal,  and  convincing  evidence  that  the 
written  notice  was  so  provided  and  that  the  alien  is  re-
movable.”  §1229a(b)(5)(A).  Absent  “exceptional  circum-
stances,”  a  noncitizen  subject  to  an  in  absentia  removal
order is ineligible for some forms of discretionary relief for 
10  years  if,  “at  the  time  of  the  notice  described  in  para-
graph  (1)  or  (2)  of  section  1229(a),”  he  “was  provided  oral
notice . . . of the time and place of the proceedings and of
the  consequences”  of  failing  to  appear.  §1229a(b)(7).  In 
certain  limited  circumstances,  however,  a  removal  order 
entered  in  absentia  may  be  rescinded—e.g.,  when  the 
noncitizen  “demonstrates  that  [he]  did  not  receive  notice 
in accordance with paragraph (1) or (2) of section 1229(a).”
§1229a(b)(5)(C)(ii). 

B 
In  1997,  shortly  after  Congress  passed  IIRIRA,  the