Yassine Faycal v. Juan Baltazar, Robert Hagan, Todd M. Lyons, Markwayne Mullin, and Pam Bondi

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Colorado granted Yassine Faycal’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The court held that his detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(6) violated the Fifth Amendment and exceeded the limits established by Zadvydas v. Davis because respondents provided no concrete evidence that removal was reasonably foreseeable. Respondents were ordered to release Faycal within 24 hours and file a compliance status report within two days.

Holdings

1. A detained noncitizen satisfies the initial Zadvydas burden by showing good reason to believe that removal is not significantly likely in the reasonably foreseeable future. Here, the six-and-one-half-month detention, withholding of removal to Chad, lack of identified third-country destination, and Respondents' inability to provide concrete information about removal efforts were sufficient.
2. Respondents did not rebut Petitioner's showing because their concession that they had no information concerning removal efforts and their generalized statement that ICE was pursuing removal to a third country did not establish a significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.
3. The court did not reach Petitioner's regulatory claim because the constitutional and statutory violations independently required habeas relief.

Questions Presented

1. Whether continued detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(6), after more than six months following a final removal order, violated the Fifth Amendment and the principles announced in Zadvydas v. Davis.
2. Whether Respondents rebutted Petitioner's showing that there was no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.
3. Whether the court needed to reach Petitioner's regulatory challenge to his detention.

Disposition

writ_granted