Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/17-459_1o13.pdf
Page Number: 6.0

2 

PEREIRA v. SESSIONS 

Opinion of the Court 

of those statutory provisions.  If the Government serves a 
noncitizen  with  a  document  that  is  labeled  “notice  to 
appear,” but the document fails to specify either the time 
or  place  of  the  removal  proceedings,  does  it  trigger  the 
stop-time rule?  The answer is as obvious as it seems: No. 
A  notice  that  does  not  inform  a  noncitizen  when  and 
where to appear for removal proceedings is not a “notice to 
appear  under  section  1229(a)”  and  therefore  does  not 
trigger  the  stop-time  rule.    The  plain  text,  the  statutory
context,  and  common  sense  all  lead  inescapably  and  un-
ambiguously to that conclusion. 

I 

A 

Under  the  Illegal  Immigration  Reform  and  Immigrant 
Responsibility  Act  of  1996  (IIRIRA),  110  Stat.  3009–546,
the  Attorney  General  of  the  United  States  has  discretion 
to  “cancel  removal”  and  adjust  the  status  of  certain  non-
permanent  residents.  §1229b(b).    To  be  eligible  for  such 
relief,  a  nonpermanent  resident  must  meet  certain  enu-
merated  criteria,  the  relevant  one  here  being  that  the 
noncitizen  must  have  “been  physically  present  in  the
United  States  for  a  continuous  period  of  not  less  than  10
years  immediately  preceding  the  date  of  [an]  application” 
for cancellation of removal.  §1229b(b)(1)(A).2 

IIRIRA  also  established  the  stop-time  rule  at  issue  in 
this  case.  Under  that  rule,  “any  period  of  . . .  continuous 
physical presence in the United States shall be deemed to 
end . . . when the alien is served a notice to appear under 
section  1229(a)  of  this  title.”3    §1229b(d)(1)(A).    Section 

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2 Lawful permanent residents also may be eligible for cancellation of
removal  if,  inter  alia,  they  have  continuously  resided  in  the  United
States for at least seven years.  §1229b(a)(2). 

3 The  period  of  continuous  physical  presence  also  stops  if  and  when
“the  alien  has  committed”  certain  enumerated  offenses  that  would