The Supreme Court ruled that weekends and holidays cannot be counted when foreign nationals are given deadlines to leave the United States.
In a split 5-4 decision, a majority of justices on the nation’s highest court ruled in favor of Hugo Abisai Monsalvo Velazquez, a Mexican national who had been living unlawfully in the U.S. for years and ordered deported. Velazquez successfully argued that his 60-day notice to leave the country — which ended on a Saturday — should have provided more flexibility for weekends and holidays.
“Does every calendar day count?” Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, wrote. “Or does the statute operate to extend a deadline that falls on a weekend or legal holiday to the next business day?”
“Here, as elsewhere, the term ‘days’ operates to extend a deadline that falls on a weekend or legal holiday to the next business day,” Gorsuch wrote.
Conservatives Gorsuch and Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s three liberals in the majority’s ruling. The other four conservative justices disagreed, arguing that they should have sent the case back to a lower court to decide whether federal courts even have jurisdiction over the matter.
In a dissenting opinion, Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh argued that the majority’s opinion essentially creates a two-day extension for those ordered to leave the country.
“Petitioner gives us no reason to believe — and I am aware of none — that the roads to Mexico, his home country, were closed; so he could have driven or taken a bus across the border,” Alito wrote. “He also could have flown to Mexico or any other country that would admit him.”
“Nevertheless, the Court holds that he was entitled to a 2-day extension because the last day of his voluntary departure deadline happened to fall on a weekend,” Alito continued. “There is no justification for that decision.”
Alito further argued that the ruling could prove to be a “windfall” for other illegal migrants subjected to self-deportation deadlines that end on a holiday or weekend, allowing them additional time compared to other migrants whose deadlines fall on regular business days.
Born in Mexico, Monsalvo Velazquez unlawfully entered the U.S and ultimately settled in the Denver area, according to court documents. When the federal government initiated deportation proceedings against him in 2011, he requested removal efforts be suspended and claimed he’d face persecution if returned to Mexico. Additionally, he asked to leave the U.S. voluntarily.
As noted in the Supreme Court’s decision, voluntary removal is incredibly beneficial for foreign nationals. Individuals determined to be removed are not able to leave of their own volition, but instead face detention and forced deportation. Voluntary removal, however, allows those the benefit of leaving at the time and place of their choosing, and avoids other “substantial” penalties that come with removal, such as being barred from entering the U.S.
In 2019, an immigration judge rejected Monsalvo Velazquez’s claim that he would face persecution if returned to Mexico, but he also found him eligible for voluntary departure, according to court documents. The judge gave him 60 days to leave the country — a deadline that ended on a Saturday. Because of this, the immigration judge stipulated that his deadline for voluntary departure would fall on the following Monday.
Monsalvo Velazquez responded to this order by appealing to the Board of Immigration Appeals, according to court documents, but the board in October 2021 rejected his appeal and established a new 60-day deadline for him to leave the U.S. On Dec. 10, 2021, a day before his deadline ended, Monsalvo Velazquez appealed this ruling.
However, the board did not accept the motion for filing until the following Monday and ultimately ruled against him, setting the stage for the Supreme Court fight.
The Supreme Court decision comes as the Trump administration has made immigration enforcement a top priority, and has heavily pushed illegal migrants to self-deport. The White House, which quickly ended an asylum app created by the previous administration, relaunched the app in March with a new feature that allows illegal migrants to declare their intention to self-deport.
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