What did the Court decide?
Three men received Notices to Appear with no hearing time or place, then received separate hearing notices with both, and then did not come to court. Each was ordered removed in absentia and later asked to rescind the order, saying he never received a proper Notice to Appear. The Fifth Circuit refused; the Ninth Circuit agreed with two of them. The Supreme Court ruled against all three. The law allows rescission if you did not receive notice under paragraph (1) or (2) of § 1229(a), and the Court read that to mean the notice for the hearing you missed. A proper hearing notice defeats this ground. The Ninth Circuit's contrary rule, which applied in California, is gone. Next step: find the notice for the hearing you missed, and check its date, time, place and address.
Can I still get an order rescinded for lack of notice?
Yes, if you did not receive proper notice of the hearing you missed. That ground has no deadline and no EOIR filing fee, and filing the motion stays removal until the judge rules, as our in absentia guide explains. But the bar is high. The statute needs no written notice at all if you failed to give an address. In Matter of Diji (2026), the Board held that mail to the most recent address you provided is enough, even one given before the Notice to Appear was issued. A bare denial may not overcome the presumption that mail arrived. Next step: gather proof of where you lived, any address form you filed, and any returned mail. Then order the record of proceedings, which shows what the court sent and where.
What other grounds does this case leave open?
Campos-Chaves dealt only with the notice ground. Two others remain under § 1229a(b)(5)(C). Exceptional circumstances, such as your serious illness or the death of a spouse, child or parent, must be raised within 180 days of the order. Federal or state custody, when the failure to appear was not your fault, can be raised at any time. The custody ground has no filing fee. An exceptional-circumstances motion is not on the fee-exempt list, and the current fee before a judge is $1,095, or $950 if the motion rests only on relief with no application fee; a judge may waive it on Form EOIR-26A. You generally get one motion, so it must contain all your evidence. Next step: write down the order date and count 180 days today. If that date is close, see a lawyer this week, because a rejected filing near the deadline is dangerous.
If my Notice to Appear was defective, what can I do with that?
Use it in court, not later. The Court said someone holding only a hearing notice must still attend, can raise incomplete notice at the hearing, and cannot seek rescission forever on arguments he could have raised there. The Board follows this strictly. Matter of Lopez-Orellana (2026) says the objection is yours to raise and is forfeited if not timely, and that a judge should proceed in absentia rather than terminate when a person had notice of the missed hearing. Matter of Laparra-Deleon (2026) restored the same rule in any circuit without contrary precedent. Next step: if you have a pending hearing, attend, and decide with a lawyer whether to object at your master calendar hearing. Matter of Aguilar Hernandez (2024) calls that a strategic decision: if you stay silent your time keeps counting toward cancellation, but if you object and DHS cures the notice, the clock stops.
Does this overrule Pereira and Niz-Chavez?
No. They answer a different question. Pereira v. Sessions and Niz-Chavez v. Garland decide when the clock stops for cancellation of removal. Campos-Chaves decides whether an order for missing court can be undone. The same defective form can leave your clock running and still not save you from an in absentia order. The Court said Pereira answered a narrow question about the stop-time rule and called its language about hearing notices dicta. An old in absentia order also does not by itself make you eligible for cancellation: you would first need the case reopened, and missing a hearing after an oral warning can bar cancellation for 10 years. Next step: write the two questions at the top of your file: did my clock stop, and did I get notice of the hearing I missed? Answer each from your own papers, separately.
What should I do first if I just learned of an order?
Confirm it. Check EOIR's case system or call 1-800-898-7180 with your A-number, as our guide to finding a case and hearing explains. Then get the order and the full record. Update your address with the court on Form EOIR-33. Do not leave the United States without advice: departure after filing is treated as withdrawing a motion to reopen, and leaving under an order has its own consequences. If ICE has contacted you, treat that as an emergency: DHS charges a fee, $5,300 since October 16, 2026, to people ordered removed in absentia and later arrested by ICE. It cannot be waived, it does not apply if the order is rescinded, and DHS has proposed raising it to $18,000. Our removal defense page explains how we review these orders. Next step: gather the order, every notice and envelope, and any proof of illness, custody or a move at the time of the hearing.