Background
Wendy Mariela Urquia-Yanez, a native of Honduras, entered the United States without admission in 2012. She was served a Notice to Appear in English which informed her of the obligation to notify the immigration court of any address change. She moved without updating her address, and the immigration court mailed a Notice of Hearing to her old address. She failed to appear and was ordered removed in absentia. She later moved to reopen and reconsider, arguing the lack of a Spanish translation of the address update obligation excused her failure to appear.
The court’s reasoning
The panel held that Ninth Circuit precedent recognizes that English-language notices of an alien’s obligations are reasonably calculated to inform aliens of their duties and satisfy due process. The court affirmed that an alien may not rely on a lack of notice if they failed to provide their current address to the government after being notified of that obligation.
DHS is not constitutionally required to translate the entirety of a Notice to Appear to aliens in their native language.
Urquia-Yanez v. Blanche
What it means going forward
Immigration courts may rely on English-language notices for address update obligations, and removal orders in absentia will stand if the alien failed to update their address after being notified of the requirement.
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