Wang v. Holder, No. 14-1176 (7th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseWang, a citizen of China was smuggled into the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1999, then age 21. Within two days, authorities discovered him and took him into custody. He was personally served with a notice to appear in the New Orleans immigration court at a “[t]ime and date to be set later.” There is no immigration court in the U.S. Virgin Islands. From a New Orleans detention facility, Wang was released on $15,000 bond, providing a North Carolina address. The immigration court twice attempted to inform Wang of the date of his hearing. Although Wang received the first notice, apparently neither was properly served. Wang did not appear and, in November 1999, the immigration judge closed the case. Wang remained in the U.S., married a Chinese citizen, and had children with her. In 2009 he voluntarily returned to immigration court and moved to recalendar his proceedings. He stated that he was pursuing a U Visa and planned to seek asylum and relief under the Convention Against Torture. A U Visa is available to certain noncitizen crime victims who “have been or are likely to be helpful to authorities in investigating or prosecuting that crime.” Wang believed that he was eligible as a victim of human trafficking. An immigration judge continued the case for 20 months. At the next hearing in 2012, the IJ learned that Wang had not obtained a U Visa and denied cancellation of removal on the ground that Wang lacked the required 10 years of continuous presence; his qualifying time ended when he was served with Notice to Appear two days after his arrival. The BIA and Seventh Circuit dismissed appeals. A notice that does not specify a particular time and date for the initial hearing suffices for purposes of the “stop-time” rule.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.