Fidel A. Pena-Gil v. Todd M. Lyons, Robert Hagan, and Warden, Aurora Contract Detention Facility

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Colorado granted Fidel A. Pena-Gil’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Applying Zadvydas v. Davis and Clark v. Martinez, the court held that his cumulative immigration detention exceeded the presumptively reasonable six-month period and that the government had not shown a significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future. The court ordered respondents to release Pena-Gil within 48 hours and denied his motion for a preliminary injunction as moot.

Holdings

1. Zadvydas governs the constitutionality of petitioner's detention regardless of whether his detention is governed by pre-IIRIRA or post-IIRIRA statutory provisions.
2. Petitioner's nonconsecutive periods of immigration detention may be aggregated, and his approximately 20 months of prior detention together with his current detention exceeded the six-month presumptively reasonable period under Zadvydas.
3. Petitioner met his burden to show good reason to believe that there was no significant likelihood of his removal to Cuba or a third country in the reasonably foreseeable future.
4. Respondents failed to provide evidence sufficient to rebut petitioner's showing because the ICE declaration merely stated that removal to Cuba was being pursued and did not establish that Cuba had acknowledged the request, identify concrete removal steps, or provide a timeframe for removal.
5. A petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 may challenge the fact or duration of confinement and provide release or a bond hearing, but it does not authorize an additional injunction requiring respondents to follow specified procedures before removing petitioner to a third country.
6. Petitioner's requests for declarations that his detention violated regulations, the Fifth Amendment, and the INA were moot because release would make those declarations have no effect on respondents' behavior and no mootness exception applied.

Questions Presented

1. Whether petitioner's continued immigration detention violated the Fifth Amendment and the Immigration and Nationality Act under the framework of Zadvydas v. Davis and Clark v. Martinez.
2. Whether nonconsecutive periods of immigration detention may be aggregated in determining whether the six-month presumptively reasonable detention period under Zadvydas has elapsed.
3. Whether respondents rebutted petitioner's showing that there was no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.
4. Whether a § 2241 habeas petition could support an order requiring respondents to follow specified procedures before removing petitioner to a third country.
5. Whether petitioner's requests for declaratory relief were moot after the court ordered his release.

Disposition

writ_granted