Immigration – Removal Order

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Victor Mejia-Padilla v. Merrick B. Garland

Case No.: 20-1720

Officials: EASTERBROOK, RIPPLE, and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Immigration – Removal Order

Petitioner Victor Mejia-Padilla (“Mejia”) seeks review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals sustaining the denial of his statutory motion to reopen his deportation proceeding, which he filed more than six years after that proceeding closed. Mejia sought reopening on the ground that the notice to appear that initiated his deportation proceeding was defective under Pereira v. Sessions, 138 S. Ct. 2105 (2018), with the result that he continued to accrue time in the United States toward the 10-year threshold for seeking cancellation of removal and is now eligible to seek such relief. Because Mejia forfeited any objection to the deficiency in the notice to appear by not timely raising it in the removal proceeding and has not shown cause for forfeiture nor prejudice resulting from the defect in the notice, we deny the petition for review.

Petition denied

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Derek A Hawkins is Corporate Counsel, at Salesforce.