A.M. v. Kevin Joyce, Sheriff, Cumberland County, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Maine denied A.M.’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus and emergency motion seeking release from immigration detention. The court held that, because A.M. had been paroled into the United States without being admitted and remained subject to detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2), he was not presently entitled to a bond hearing under due process principles. The court also rejected his equal protection challenge and dismissed the matter without a hearing.

Holdings

1. Because A.M. was never admitted to the United States and remained an arriving alien seeking admission who had been paroled under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5), he remained subject to detention under § 1225(b)(2) after his parole expired. His detention without an immediate bond hearing did not, on the record and at the relatively early stage of detention presented, violate due process.
2. The approximately three-month period between expiration of A.M.'s parole and his return to custody was reasonable and did not create a due-process right to release or a bond hearing.
3. The record did not establish an equal-protection violation. Alienage-based distinctions in this immigration context are subject to rational-basis review, and the government offered plausible reasons for increased scrutiny of Afghan nationals that were sufficient to sustain the arrest and detention.

Questions Presented

1. Whether A.M.'s detention without a prompt bond hearing violated the Due Process Clause because he was not returned to custody immediately after the expiration of his parole.
2. Whether A.M. was detained in violation of equal protection because his arrest allegedly resulted from anti-Afghan statements and enforcement policies following a shooting involving an Afghan national.
3. Whether the court should order A.M.'s immediate release or compel a bond or parole hearing.

Disposition

dismissed