Jackson Javier Batioja Cuero v. P Warden, FCI Berlin

2024 DNH 075
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Hampshire
DecidedSeptember 12, 2024
Docket23-cv-065-LM-AJ
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2024 DNH 075 (Jackson Javier Batioja Cuero v. P Warden, FCI Berlin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jackson Javier Batioja Cuero v. P Warden, FCI Berlin, 2024 DNH 075 (D.N.H. 2024).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

Jackson Javier Batioja Cuero

v. Civil No. 23-cv-065-LM-AJ Opinion No. 2024 DNH 075 P Warden, FCI Berlin

ORDER

Petitioner Jackson Javier Batioja Cuero, a federal prisoner previously

incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Berlin, New Hampshire

(“FCI Berlin”), filed this petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241,

seeking to compel the Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) to apply “time credits” he earned

under the First Step Act (“FSA”), and to put him in a halfway house. See doc. nos. 1,

6. Cf. Francis v. Maloney, 798 F.3d 33, 36 (1st Cir. 2015) (district court may

adjudicate claims in § 2241 petition challenging BOP’s calculation of sentence

credits and alleged unlawful delay in releasing petitioner to community-based

custodial setting). Before the court is the Respondent Warden’s Second Motion for

Summary Judgment (doc. no. 8), arguing that the petition should be denied because

Batioja Cuero is subject to a final order of removal, rendering him ineligible for the

application of FSA time credits, see 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(E)(i), and because he is

ineligible for halfway house placement. Petitioner objects. See doc. nos. 10, 15. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Summary judgment is appropriate in habeas proceedings as in other civil

cases when “‘there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and . . . the moving

party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.’” Bader v. Warden, No. 02-cv-508-

JD, 2003 DNH 90, 2003 WL 21228520, at *3, (D.N.H. May 28, 2003) (citations

omitted), aff’d, 488 F.3d 483 (1st Cir. 2007); see also Gattineri v. Wynn MA, LLC, 93

F.4th 505, 509 (1st Cir. 2024) (citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a)). A genuine factual

dispute exists if “the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could resolve the point

in the favor of the non-moving party,” and a material fact is one “that has the

potential of affecting the outcome of the case.” Hamdallah v. CPC Carolina PR,

LLC, 91 F.4th 1, 16 (1st Cir. 2024) (quotation omitted). In making that

determination, the court draws all reasonable inferences from the properly

supported facts in favor of the nonmoving party. Lech v. von Goeler, 92 F.4th 56, 64

(1st Cir. 2024).

BACKGROUND

The following facts are derived from this court’s record or from matters

susceptible of judicial notice. These facts are undisputed, except where otherwise

indicated.

Batioja Cuero is a federal prisoner from Ecuador. He was convicted in the

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida of conspiracy to possess with

intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine on board a vessel subject to the

jurisdiction of the United States. See United States v. Batioja Cuero, No. 8:15-cr-

2 00224-VMC-AAS-1 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 7, 2016) (ECF No. 89). On January 7, 2016, that

court sentenced Batioja Cuero to a 138-month term of imprisonment with a five-

year term of supervised release, see id., and on April 17, 2024, that court reduced

his term of imprisonment to 135 months or time served, whichever was greater, see

id. (ECF No. 164).

At all times relevant to his petition, Batioja Cuero has been the subject of an

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) detainer. While incarcerated,

Batioja Cuero has participated in multiple courses and programs yielding time

credits under the FSA. As of December 2, 2023, BOP records show that Batioja

Cuero had earned 780 days of FSA credits. Batioja Cuero asserts that he received

notice in October 2023 that he had been approved for placement in a halfway house

beginning in January 2024.

Before that date arrived, on November 16, 2023, an ICE officer served a set of

Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) forms on Batioja Cuero at FCI Berlin,

including a “Notice and Order of Expedited Removal: Determination of

Inadmissibility” (“NOER”). Batioja Cuero neither signed the DHS forms on

November 16, 2023, nor made any statement to the ICE officer who delivered them.

Batioja Cuero asserts that the ICE officer did not provide him with an adequate

opportunity to make a statement.

On the same day that ICE served the NOER, FCI Berlin staff received a

revised immigration detainer for Batioja Cuero, stating that he is the subject of a

final order of removal. As a result, BOP changed the petitioner’s records to show

3 that he had become “FSA Ineligible.” Because of Batioja Cuero’s ICE detainer and

removal order, BOP now considers him to be unqualified for prerelease custody and

ineligible for a halfway house.

Documents filed by Batioja Cuero indicate that he submitted an

administrative appeal of the NOER to New Hampshire offices of the U.S.

Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) and ICE, requesting Board of

Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) review, claiming that the NOER is invalid, was

improperly served, and is inapplicable to a person in his circumstances. The

documents comprising that request for review also acknowledge that Batioja Cuero

did not make any statement to the ICE officer who served the NOER and add that

Batioja Cuero intends to apply for asylum and fears returning to his home country.

ICE Assistant Field Office Director Todd Thurlow has averred that because ICE is

now aware of Batioja Cuero’s statements regarding his “fear of return,” ICE will

refer him “to an asylum officer at the time he is taken into ICE custody for a

credible fear interview prior to executing his removal order.”1 Doc. no. 14-1 ¶ 6.

1 A referral for a “credible fear interview” precedes the removal of any non-

citizen designated for expedited removal who tells the examining immigration officer that the person intends to apply for asylum, is fearful of persecution or torture, or fears returning to that person’s home country. See 8 C.F.R. §§ 208.30(b), 235.3(b)(4) (in such circumstances “the inspecting officer shall not proceed further with removal of the [noncitizen] until [the noncitizen] has been referred for an interview by [a USCIS] asylum officer”). The credible fear interview is a screening procedure which sets a low bar for asylum applicants and allows for consideration of the person’s potential eligibility for withholding of removal or relief under the Convention Against Torture. See generally Dep’t of Homeland Sec. v. Thuraissigiam, 591 U.S. 103, 110 & n.5 (2020); see also 8 C.F.R. § 208.30(d).

4 At some point after Batioja Cuero filed this § 2241 petition, BOP transferred

him to FCI Allenwood Low in Pennsylvania, where he remains today. BOP projects

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