L.V.M. v. Lloyd

318 F. Supp. 3d 601
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 27, 2018
Docket18 Civ. 1453 (PAC)
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 318 F. Supp. 3d 601 (L.V.M. v. Lloyd) 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
L.V.M. v. Lloyd, 318 F. Supp. 3d 601 (S.D. Ill. 2018).

Opinion

HONORABLE PAUL A. CROTTY, United States District Judge

This is a lawsuit about how the U.S. Government treats unaccompanied alien children ("UAC").1 Generally, when UAC

*608are apprehended by an agency of the Federal Government, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE"), the agency must transfer custody of the UAC to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement ("ORR") within 72 hours. 6 U.S.C. § 279(a) ; 8 U.S.C. § 1232(b)(3). ORR is then responsible for the care and custody of the UAC, until they are reunited with a family member or placed with other individuals or entities, while removal proceedings go forward in immigration courts. When UAC come into ORR's custody, ORR places UAC into one of three types of state licensed, ORR-funded, caretaker facilities: (1) secure facility; (2) staff-secure facility; and (3) shelter care facility. A secure facility has the most restrictive custodial condition and it is in many ways akin to juvenile jails; a staff-secure facility is less restrictive than a secure facility, but movement within it is substantially controlled; and a shelter care facility is the least restrictive custodial setting. These facilities are supposed to provide UAC with housing, education, health, and case management services. The ORR website explains its role as follows:

"On March 1, 2003, the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Section 462, transferred responsibilities for the care and placement of unaccompanied alien children from the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).
Since then, ORR has cared for more than 175,000 children, incorporating child welfare values as well as the principles and provisions established by the Flores Agreement in 1997, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and its reauthorization acts, the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2005 and 2008.
Unaccompanied alien children apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immigration officials are transferred to the care and custody of ORR. ORR promptly places an unaccompanied child in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interests of the child, taking into consideration danger to self, danger to the community, and risk of flight. ORR takes into consideration the unique nature of each child's situation and incorporates child welfare principles when making placement, clinical, case management, and release decisions that are in the best interest of the child ." (Emphases added).2

The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 ("TVPRA") mandates that ORR "promptly" place UAC "in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interests of the child." 8 U.S.C. § 1232(c)(2)(A). Prompt placement of the child is critical to minimize the deleterious impact (anxiety, depression, and/or cognitive change) of detention. There is no dispute that the longer the detention, the greater the impact.

This lawsuit challenges the ORR's newly revised process for placing UAC in the most appropriate setting at the earliest possible opportunity. In mid-2017, the then-newly appointed director of ORR, Scott Lloyd, added a director review step to the UAC release process, requiring his personal approval of release decisions involving UAC who are housed in a staff-secure *609facility or have ever been housed in a staff-secure or secure facility. Plaintiffs claim that the director review step adds unjustifiable delays to the UAC release process and violates the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), TVPRA, and Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Lead Plaintiff L.V.M., who is an UAC, brings this action on behalf of himself and those similarly situated against Scott Lloyd, Jonathan White, Steven Wagner, Alex Azar, and Ely Valdez ("Defendants") who are federal officers and employees of ORR, seeking injunctive relief and declaratory judgment, as well as habeas relief.3

To be clear, this lawsuit does not deal with the Department of Homeland Security's new policy of separating children from their undocumented parents at the border. Nor does it deal with ORR's apparent loss of contact with 1,500 UAC under its supervision. Nor the alleged routine and forcible administration of a range of psychotropic drugs at an ORR-funded facility. Nor the ORR's alleged practice of detaining and transporting UAC to detention facilities without notifying their parents or lawyers. Nor the ORR's alleged employment of a psychiatrist that has treated children without board certification for nearly a decade. Rather, this lawsuit challenges only the ORR's process for promptly placing UAC in the most appropriate setting.

Plaintiffs move for class certification and a preliminary injunction; Defendants move to dismiss. With this Court's leave, the parties completed expedited discovery. On June 7, 2018, the Court heard oral argument on each of the motions.

For the reasons set forth below, the Defendants' motion to dismiss is DENIED; the Plaintiffs' motion for class certification is GRANTED; and the Plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction is GRANTED-IN-PART and DENIED-IN-PART .

Not only have Plaintiffs pleaded plausible statutory and constitutional violations, but they have also adequately demonstrated irreparable injury and the likelihood of success on numerous claims. For example, the APA guards against agency actions instituted based on personal preference of decisionmakers. According to evidence before the Court, Lloyd's director review policy was instituted within hours of Lloyd's appointment as the director of ORR, with no record demonstrating the need for a change. Apparently, the change was based on unidentified news reports about criminal activities involving immigrant minors. Expedited discovery has not yielded any record showing a consideration of relevant law, agency documents, or the impact on UAC. This is at the zenith of impermissible agency actions. This unlawful agency action keeps Plaintiffs-the very subjects that ORR is statutorily mandated to protect-from reuniting with their sponsors for at the very least 35 more days (and likely more than that) in a process which already takes too long.

The Court cannot turn a blind eye to Plaintiffs' suffering and irreparable injury. The Court hereby directs ORR to vacate the director review policy, until further order of the Court.

Well Pleaded Allegations Concerning Custody and Processing of Immigrant Children

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
318 F. Supp. 3d 601, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lvm-v-lloyd-ilsd-2018.