The U.S. Supreme Court is deciding how to interpret a 60-day deadline in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) for noncitizens who are allowed voluntary removal from the U.S. The Court is looking at whether weekends or holidays should affect how this deadline to self-deport is determined.

In this case, a Mexican national was told by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to leave the country by a specific date, which happened to be a Saturday. The individual thought that since the deadline was on a weekend, he would automatically get extra time until the next business day, which was Monday. He planned to ask the court to reopen his case on that Monday. However, his request was denied because the deadline had passed. Now, the individual is asking the Supreme Court to change a lower court ruling that says the 60-day deadline is fixed, with no exceptions. He also argues that old English laws allowed deadlines to be extended to the next business day if they fell on weekends or holidays, and that this should apply to immigration deadlines as well.

The U.S. Department of Justice disagrees. They say that grace periods like this usually apply to deadlines set by judges, not to rules in the law itself. They also point out that other immigration laws do not extend deadlines to the next business day, and that the 60-day deadline does not require court action that would be affected by weekends or holidays.

If you have questions about voluntary removal or any other U.S. immigration-related issue, contact us. Our clients work directly with attorneys to ensure they receive expert advice remain in compliance every step of the way.