El-Youssef v. Meese

678 F. Supp. 1508, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 686, 1988 WL 5898
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedJanuary 20, 1988
DocketCiv. A. 87-2530
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 678 F. Supp. 1508 (El-Youssef v. Meese) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
El-Youssef v. Meese, 678 F. Supp. 1508, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 686, 1988 WL 5898 (D. Kan. 1988).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

EARL E. O’CONNOR, Chief Judge.

This action was brought by the petitioner, Ghassan El-Youssef, for habeas corpus relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 and 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a)(9). Petitioner contends that he is being detained unlawfully by immigration authorities subsequent to the issuance of an Order of Deportation. The matter is before the court on the respondents’ motion to dismiss and the petitioner’s motion to transfer.

The facts, as alleged in the pleadings, are as follows. Petitioner is a Palestinian and a resident of the United Arab Emirates. The pleadings also indicate that petitioner is a citizen of Lebanon. Petitioner entered the United States on August 14, 1982, on a visitor’s visa. Under that visa, he was authorized to remain in the United States until August 27, 1984. Shortly before his visa expired, petitioner filed a Request for Asylum in the United States. In this application, petitioner indicated to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) that he would be persecuted if he returned to Lebanon because he was a Palestinian, a Muslim and a former soldier in the Abu-Dhabi military. On January 1, 1985, the Office of Asylum Affairs within the State Department sent a written opinion to the INS district director in Kansas City, Missouri, pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 208.7. In this opinion, the Office of Asylum Affairs stated that the petitioner had failed to establish a “well founded fear of persecution” that would entitle him to asylum under the terms of the United Nations Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees.

On January 21, 1985, the District Director notified the petitioner by letter that the INS intended to deny his application for political asylum. In that letter, the District Director gave the petitioner fifteen days in which to offer additional documentary evidence in support of his application. When no other evidence was presented, the District Director informed the petitioner that his request for asylum was denied because he failed to establish that he was a “refugee.” Petitioner was granted until February 23,1985, to depart voluntarily from the United States; however, petitioner did not leave the country by that date. Consequently, the INS issued an Order to Show Cause and Notice of Hearing on February 25, 1985; petitioner was ordered to appear before an immigration judge to show cause why he should not be deported.

On March 18,1986, a deportation hearing was held. For some unspecified reason, the petitioner did not attend that hearing. However, petitioner’s counsel was present. The attorney requested a continuance due to the petitioner’s absence, but the immigration judge denied the request and commenced the proceeding. Counsel renewed the petitioner’s request for asylum; this request was denied by the immigration judge because the petitioner was not present to testify or to produce evidence on his behalf. The immigration judge found the petitioner to be deportable and granted him voluntary departure on or before April 18, 1986. The immigration judge also entered an alternate order deporting petitioner to Lebanon. Petitioner again failed to depart voluntarily. The INS subsequently issued a Warrant of Deportation on April 22, 1986. A Deportation Order was entered on the same date by the INS, stating that arrangements had been made for petitioner’s departure to Lebanon from Kansas City, Missouri, on May 6, 1986. A copy of the Deportation Order was sent to the petitioner by certified mail, return receipt requested; the receipt was returned to the INS signed by the petitioner and dated April 29,1986. Petitioner still did not leave the country.

Petitioner was subsequently arrested by INS officials pursuant to the Warrant of Deportation on October 29, 1987. On November 2, 1987, a petition for writ of habeas corpus and motion for temporary restraining order were filed in this court. The court entered a temporary restraining order prohibiting the petitioner’s deportation and set a hearing on November 3, 1987. At that hearing, we dissolved the *1511 restraining order and granted petitioner five days in which to file an amended petition. This court also requested a memorandum of law on the issue of the court’s jurisdiction in this matter. After petitioner filed these documents, the United States filed a motion to dismiss; plaintiff did not file a separate response to the government’s motion. Petitioner subsequently filed a motion to transfer the action to the Western District of Missouri pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a).

I. Motion to Transfer.

The court first will address the petitioner’s motion to transfer this action to the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. The grounds for the transfer, as stated by the petitioner, are that his lead counsel is an attorney licensed in the state of Missouri and that he can no longer afford to pay for local counsel to continue this proceeding in Kansas. He also contends that venue in Missouri would be more convenient to the parties.

Title 28, United States Code, Section 1404(a) permits a district court to transfer any civil action for the convenience of the parties and witnesses to any district or division where the action might have been brought. The habeas corpus statutes give federal courts the power to issue writs only “within their respective jurisdictions.” 28 U.S.C. § 2241(a). Due to this restriction, the petitioner’s custodian must be within the territorial jurisdiction of the court issuing the writ. Schlanger v. Seamans, 401 U.S. 487, 489, 91 S.Ct. 995, 997, 28 L.Ed.2d 251 (1971). The basis for this jurisdictional requirement is the fact that the writ acts upon the person holding the petitioner and not on the petitioner himself. Braden v. 30th Judicial Circuit Court of Kentucky, 410 U.S. 484, 494-95, 93 S.Ct. 1123, 1129-30, 35 L.Ed.2d 443 (1973). The issue of proper venue in habeas corpus actions involving persons detained by immigration authorities is not clear. See, e.g., Umanzor v. Lambert, 782 F.2d 1299, 1302 (5th Cir.1986); Ledesma-Valdes v. Sava, 604 F.Supp. 675, 679 (S.D.N.Y.1985).

At the time this action was filed, the petitioner was in custody and detained at the Wyandotte County jail within the District of Kansas. Petitioner has made no showing that the action for habeas corpus relief could have been brought in the Western District of Missouri on November 2, 1987. Even if the action could have been brought in Missouri, the petitioner has not shown that convenience of the parties and witnesses requires such a transfer. For these reasons, the petitioner’s motion to transfer pursuant to section 1404(a) will be denied.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
678 F. Supp. 1508, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 686, 1988 WL 5898, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/el-youssef-v-meese-ksd-1988.