Immigrants’ Removal in Absentia Vacated Due to Defective Notice

The removal orders handed down against an immigrant and her son in absentia were vacated by the Fourth Circuit Wednesday because the notice that they were given regarding their hearing was defective.

The opinion by Judge James Andrew Wynn also created a circuit split over whether an updated notice like the one Azucena Lazo-Gavidia was mailed was still operative, even though she didn’t receive it because she didn’t give the government her new address.

The fact that Lazo-Gavidia moved without notifying the court wasn’t determinative, Wynn said, disagreeing with the Fifth and Eleventh circuits. Instead, he said that a valid ...