Henriquez v. Garland

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJune 14, 2022
Docket5:22-cv-00869
StatusUnknown

This text of Henriquez v. Garland (Henriquez v. Garland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henriquez v. Garland, (N.D. Cal. 2022).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 SAN JOSE DIVISION 7 8 JOSE MAURICIO HENRIQUEZ, Case No. 5:22-cv-00869-EJD

9 Petitioner, ORDER DENYING MOTION TO TRANSFER; GRANTING PETITION v. 10 FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

MERRICK GARLAND, et al., 11 Re: Dkt. No. 22 Respondents. 12

13 Jose Mauricio Henriquez is detained at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 14 (“ICE”) Processing Center located in Mesa Verde (Mesa Verde”). He filed a Verified Petition for 15 Writ of Habeas Corpus (“Petition”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241, claiming that his ongoing 16 twenty-one month detention violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the 17 United States Constitution. He asks the Court to order his release unless he receives a bond 18 hearing before an immigration judge (“IJ”), with the burden placed on the Government to establish 19 by clear and convincing evidence that he presents a danger to the community or a flight risk. 20 Respondents-Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland 21 Security Alejandro Mayorkas, the Acting Director for ICE Tae Johnson, and Acting Director for 22 the San Francisco ICE Field Office Polly Kaiser (collectively “Respondents”)-move to dismiss, or 23 in the alternative to transfer, for lack of jurisdiction, as well as oppose the Petition on the merits. 24 Dkt. No. 22. Respondents assert that (1) jurisdiction is proper only in the Eastern District of 25 California, where the Petitioner is in custody, and (2) Petitioner is subject to mandatory detention 26 pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c). Id. Petitioner filed a Traverse and Opposition to the Motion to 27 Case No.: 5:22-cv-00869-EJD 1 Dismiss, Dkt. No. 24, and the Government filed a Reply, Dkt. No. 25. The motion was heard on 2 May 19, 2022. For the reasons discussed below, the Court finds jurisdiction is proper and grants 3 the Petition. 4 I. BACKGROUND 5 Petitioner, age 54, is a native and citizen of El Salvador. Verified Pet. for Writ of Habeas 6 Corpus ¶ 1, Dkt. No. 1. In 1989, Petitioner fled the violence in El Salvador and moved to the 7 United States. Pet’r Decl. ¶ 12, Dk. No. 1-3. In 2002, he became a permanent resident. Id. Prior 8 to his arrests, Petitioner lived in Los Angeles, in the Central District of California, and held steady 9 employment. Id. ¶¶13-17. Petition is married and has two biological sons and one stepson. Id. ¶ 10 18. 11 In November 2013, Petitioner was arrested and charged in the California Superior Court 12 for Los Angeles County for violations of California Penal Code § 286(c)(2), Sodomy by Use of 13 Force; § 261(a)(2), Forcible Rape; two counts of § 288(b)(1), Forcible Lewd Act Upon Child; and 14 § 288.2(a)(1), Harmful Matter Sent with Intent of Seduction of Minor. Decl. of Deportation 15 Officer Ramiro Sanchez (“Sanchez Decl.”) ¶ 5, Dkt. Nos. 22-1, 31; Felony Complaint, Dkt. No. 16 22-1 at 18–25. 17 18 19 20 21 In October 2014, Petitioner pleaded nolo contendere and was convicted of two counts of 22 violation of California Penal Code § 288(a), Lewd Acts on a Child Under 14 Years of Age. 23 Sanchez Decl. ¶ 7. Petitioner was sentenced to the upper term of eight years for each count, to be 24 served concurrently. Id. 25 Upon his release from state prison on June 24, 2020, Petitioner was arrested by ICE in 26 Bakersfield, in the Eastern District of California, and charged as removable pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 27 Case No.: 5:22-cv-00869-EJD 1 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii) as a noncitizen who had been convicted of “aggravated felonies.” Id. ¶ 8.1 2 Pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c)(1)(B), Petitioner is subject to detention. 3 On August 20, 2020, Petitioner was scheduled for an initial master calendar hearing before 4 an IJ in the Central District. Decl. of Nikisha Scott (“Scott Decl.”) ¶ 4, Dkt. No. 22-2. That 5 hearing was administratively rescheduled to September 3, 2020, due to court closure. Id. 6 Thereafter, the hearing was rescheduled twice because Petitioner asked for additional time to seek 7 representation. Id. ¶ 5. On September 24, 2020, Petitioner appeared for a master calendar 8 hearing. Id. ¶ 7. Based on Petitioner’s admissions and concessions, the IJ sustained the charge of 9 removability. Id. The hearing was adjourned to October 8, 2020, to allow Petitioner time to 10 prepare and file applications for relief. Id. 11 On October 8, 2020, Petitioner appeared for a master calendar hearing. Id. ¶ 8. That 12 hearing was postponed several times while Petitioner awaited the processing of a Form I-130, 13 Petition for Alien Relative, that Petitioner’s son had filed on his behalf. Id. ¶¶ 9 -10. When the 14 Government learned that the Form I-130 had been filed, it requested expedited adjudication of the 15 Form. See Sanchez Decl., Ex. 5, Dkt. No. 22-1 at 53. Petitioner’s Form I-130 was processed by 16 December 2, 2020. Id., Ex. 6, Dkt. No. 22-1 at 56. 17 On January 6, 2021, Petitioner appeared for a master calendar hearing. Scott Decl. ¶ 11. 18 That hearing was also continued several times to allow Petitioner to arrange for and complete a 19 medical examination, and to prepare and file a (1) Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent 20 Residence or Adjust Status, (2) a Form I-864, Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the 21 Immigration and Nationality Act, and (3) a Form I-601, Application for Waiver of Grounds of 22 Inadmissibility. Id. ¶¶ 11 -13. 23 On April 13, 2021, Petitioner appeared with his new counsel for a master calendar hearing. 24 Id. ¶ 14. Counsel requested and was granted sixty days to prepare for the case. Id. On June 16, 25

26 1 The term “aggravated felony” includes murder, rape or sexual abuse of a minor. 8 U.S.C. § 27 1101(a)(43)(A). Case No.: 5:22-cv-00869-EJD 1 Petitioner appeared with his counsel for a master calendar hearing. Id. ¶ 15. Petitioner’s counsel 2 requested an additional two months’ continuance. Sanchez Decl., Ex. 8, Dkt. No. 22-1 at 65–67. 3 Among other things, Petitioner’s counsel wanted additional time, until August of 2021, to further 4 revise witness declarations that they planned to submit, to have a proposed expert draft a report, 5 and because the junior member of the counsel team needed to take off the month of July to study 6 for the bar exam. Id. The Government opposed a further continuance. Dkt. No. 22-1 at 67. Over 7 the Government’s objection, the IJ scheduled a merits hearing for August 30, 2021. Id. at 72. 8 On August 30, 2021, Petitioner appeared with his counsel for an individual merits hearing, 9 which lasted over two hours. Scott Decl. ¶ 16. The hearing resumed on September 16, 2021, for 10 approximately two hours of additional testimonial evidence, and concluded on September 20, 11 2021, after another hour and forty-five minutes of presentation. Id. 12 On November 9, 2021, the IJ issued a written decision denying all forms of relief and 13 ordered Petitioner removed to El Salvador. Id. ¶ 19; Sanchez Decl., Ex. 9, Dkt. No. 22-1 at 76–94. 14 The IJ found that Petitioner was ineligible for a waiver of inadmissibility because his conviction 15 for two counts of violating Penal Code § 288(a) constituted crimes involving moral turpitude. 16 Dkt. No. 22-1 at 86. The IJ found that Petitioner did not warrant a discretionary waiver of 17 inadmissibility because (1) Petitioner did not clearly demonstrate that denial of a waiver would 18 result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship (id.

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Henriquez v. Garland, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henriquez-v-garland-cand-2022.