Cabral v. Decker

331 F. Supp. 3d 255
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 21, 2018
Docket18 Civ. 4823 (JGK)
StatusPublished
Cited by77 cases

This text of 331 F. Supp. 3d 255 (Cabral v. Decker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cabral v. Decker, 331 F. Supp. 3d 255 (S.D. Ill. 2018).

Opinion

JOHN G. KOELTL, District Judge

This case, a petition for habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, concerns whether a lawful permanent resident's prolonged mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c), without a bond hearing, violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

The petitioner, Dalbido Antonio Gil Cabral - a lawful permanent resident of this country - has been imprisoned without a bond hearing for over seven months. His next hearing is scheduled for mid-November, at which time he will have been detained for over nine months. He now brings this petition for a writ of habeas corpus against the respondents: Thomas Decker,1 Kirstjen Nielsen,2 and Jefferson *257B. Sessions3 in their official capacities. He seeks an order requiring the respondents to provide a bond hearing.

For the following reasons, the petition for a writ of habeas corpus is granted . The respondents are ordered to provide a bond hearing or release the petitioner with in seven days of this Order.

I.

Dalbido Antonio Gil Cabral is a 26-year-old lawful permanent resident of the United States. (Pet. ¶ 1.) He is from the Dominican Republic, but has lived in the United States since he was fourteen years old. (Id. ¶ 1.)His mother (a lawful permanent resident), sister (a United States citizen), brother (a lawful permanent resident), grandfather, and partner all live here as well. (See id. ¶ 21; Pet. Ex. A ¶ 3.) He is the father of one United States citizen child, and also serves a paternal role for his partner's three children, who are United States citizens. (Pet. ¶ 21; Pet. Ex. A ¶ 3.)

On January 22, 2018, the respondents transferred the petitioner to civil immigration detention. (Pet. ¶ 2.) He was sent to the Bergen County Jail in New Jersey, and removal proceedings were initiated against him at the Executive Office for Immigration Review. (Id. ¶ 26; Pet. Ex. B.) The respondents charged the petitioner as removable under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c). Under § 1226(c), the Government must detain a limited class of noncitizens without bond for the period of time while removal proceedings are pending. Certain crimes, known as "crimes of moral turpitude," can be the basis for detention under § 1226(c). Two crimes of moral turpitude are required if that is the basis for removal. Id. In this case, the Government initially claimed that two of the petitioner's prior convictions - attempted robbery and turnstile jumping - satisfied that requirement. (See Pet. Ex. B.)On February 22, 2018, the petitioner appeared at his first immigration hearing. (Pet. ¶ 28; Pet. Ex. A ¶¶ 4-5.)At that hearing, his case was adjourned to April 6, 2018. (Pet. ¶ 28; Pet. Ex. A¶ 5.)

On March 23, 2018, the petitioner filed a motion to terminate the immigration proceedings. (Pet. ¶ 29.) He argued that a conviction for turnstile jumping was not a crime involving moral turpitude. (Id. ¶ 29; Pet. Ex. F.)The Department of Homeland Security ("DHS")later filed a written opposition, (Pet. ¶ 30), and the immigration judge adjourned the case until May 1, 2018, to consider the motion. (Id. ) On April 13, 2018, DHS amended the petitioner's notice to appear to add an allegation that the petitioner was convicted of petit larceny - a misdemeanor. (Id. ¶ 31.)

At the May 1 hearing, the immigration judge declared that she would not make a formal ruling on the petitioner's motion to terminate because DHS had amended the notice to appear to include another purported crime of moral turpitude: the conviction for petit larceny. (Id. ¶ 32.) That same day, the immigration judge held a Matter of Joseph hearing4 to determine whether the petitioner was properly subject to detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c). (Pet. ¶ 33; Pet. Ex. A ¶ 8.) The petitioner argued that DHS was substantially unlikely to prevail on its charge that the petitioner is deportable. (Pet. ¶ 33.)

*258The immigration judge disagreed, holding the petitioner had not met his burden. (Id. ) The judge then adjourned the case until May 31, 2018. (Id. )

On May 31, 2018, the immigration judge denied the petitioner's Amended Motion to Terminate Removal Proceedings. (Id. ¶ 34.) The immigration judge stated that she believed she was bound to conclude that a New York petit larceny conviction is a crime involving moral turpitude. (Id. ) The judge then scheduled a merits hearing for adjudication of the petitioner's applications for relief from removal. (Id. ) The judge set the hearing for August 7, 2018. (Id. )

At the August 7 merits hearing, the petitioner was allowed to present only one witness. (Aug. 8, 2018, Z. Jones Letter to the Court, at 1, Dkt. No. 16.) The immigration court then continued the hearing to a date more than three months in the future: November 14, 2018. (Id. )At the November 14 hearing, the petitioner will have spent over nine months in custody without a bond hearing.

On September 14, 2018, the petitioner submitted a letter to notify the Court about a recently issued opinion from the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA"), Matter of J. M. Acosta, 27 I. & N. Dec. 420, 432 (B.I.A. 2018). (Sept. 14, 2018, Z. Jones Letter to the Court, Dkt. No. 21.) In that case, the BIA held that "a conviction does not achieve finality for immigration purposes until the time for filing an initial direct appeal has expired under the laws of the applicable jurisdiction." Matter of J. M. Acosta, 27 I. & N. Dec. 420, 432 (B.I.A. 2018). One of the two crimes that is purported to be a crime of moral turpitude committed by the plaintiff is currently on appeal. (Sept. 14, 2018, Z. Jones Letter to the Court, Dkt. No. 21.) The petitioner claims that this strengthens his arguments against removability but is likely to extend his already prolonged detention. (Id. )

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Bluebook (online)
331 F. Supp. 3d 255, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cabral-v-decker-ilsd-2018.