Yar Sar Ali v. Brian English

Summary

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana grants Yar Sar Ali's petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Applying Zadvydas v. Davis, the court concludes that Ali's continued immigration detention is not authorized because his removal to Burma is not reasonably foreseeable. The court orders his release on the same supervised-release conditions that existed before his re-detention and directs the respondent to certify compliance.

Holdings

1. The district court had subject-matter jurisdiction over Ali's § 2241 petition challenging the legality of his post-removal-order detention.
2. Continued detention was not authorized because Ali had shown good reason to believe that there was no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future, and the government failed to rebut that showing with sufficient evidence.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court had subject-matter jurisdiction under § 2241 to review Ali's post-removal-order immigration detention notwithstanding 8 U.S.C. §§ 1252(g) and 1252(b)(9).
2. Whether Ali's continued detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1231 was authorized when he had been detained for more than six months and the government failed to show that removal to Burma was reasonably foreseeable.

Disposition

writ_granted