Bashir Altayeb v. Juan Baltazar, Warden, Denver Contract Detention Facility, George Valdez, Director of the Denver Field Office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Todd Blanche, Acting U.S. Attorney General, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Colorado granted Bashir Altayeb’s amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The court held that his continued post-removal-order detention was not authorized under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(6) because the respondents failed to show a significant likelihood of removal to a third country in the reasonably foreseeable future, and ordered his immediate release subject to possible reasonable conditions.

Holdings

1. Continued detention was not authorized under § 1231(a)(6) because Petitioner showed good reason to believe that removal was not significantly likely in the reasonably foreseeable future, and Respondents failed to rebut that showing with sufficient evidence.
2. Petitioner was entitled to habeas relief because his continued custody violated the law governing post-removal-period detention.
3. Respondents could not re-detain Petitioner unless they demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence at a pre-deprivation bond hearing that Petitioner was a flight risk or danger to the community such that physical custody was legally justified.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Petitioner’s continued detention after more than six months following a final order of removal violated 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(6) as construed by Zadvydas v. Davis.
2. Whether the record showed a significant likelihood that Petitioner would be removed in the reasonably foreseeable future.
3. Whether Petitioner was entitled to immediate release under 28 U.S.C. § 2241.

Disposition

writ_granted