The Ninth Circuit has determined that service of a notice of hearing does not “complete” a Notice to Appear that is missing the time and date of an individual’s first removal hearing, such that the stop-time rule would be triggered. The court noted that this “two-step process” was explicitly rejected by the Supreme Court in Pereira v. Sessions and refused to follow the Board of immigration Appeals’ contrary decision in Matter of Mendoza-Hernandez. The court also overruled its prior decision in Popa v. Holder, which permitted the use of this two-step process.
The full text of Lorenzo Lopez v. Barr can be found here: http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2019/05/22/15-72406.pdf