Supreme Court Ruling Makes It Harder for Illegal Immigrants to Oppose Deportation

‘This reading aligns with common sense,’ Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority in a decision that could have big implications for deportation proceedings.

A group of more than 1,000 illegal immigrants walks toward a U.S. Border Patrol field processing center after they crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Dec. 18, 2023. John Moore/Getty Images

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday issued a decision that makes it harder for illegal immigrants subject to a deportation order to challenge their removal from the country on the grounds that the government sent them an initial notice to appear that lacked a time and place for their hearing even though it followed up with a second notice that contained this information.

In a 5–4 decision issued on June 14, with Justice Neil Gorsuch joining the liberal minority in dissent, the high court sided with the government in upholding the legitimacy of what amounts to a two-step notification system in the process of deporting illegal immigrants that effectively removes one basis for them to get their removal order rescinded.