Martinez Franco v. Jennings

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedApril 24, 2020
Docket3:20-cv-02474
StatusUnknown

This text of Martinez Franco v. Jennings (Martinez Franco v. Jennings) 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
Martinez Franco v. Jennings, (N.D. Cal. 2020).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 7 8 FRANCISCO JAVIER MARTINEZ Case No. 20-cv-02474-CRB FRANCO, 9 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING TEMPORARY 10 RESTRAINING ORDER v. 11 DAVID W. JENNINGS, et al., 12 Defendants. 13 Francisco Javier Martinez Franco requests a temporary restraining order releasing him 14 from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention or, in the alternative, ordering a bond 15 hearing before an Immigration Judge. He argues that the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of 16 substantive due process prohibits his detention, because the conditions of his confinement increase 17 his risk of contracting COVID-19. The Court rejects this argument, and declines to order 18 Martinez Franco’s release, because he suffers from no underlying medical condition or other risk 19 factor for serious illness from COVID-19. Martinez Franco also argues he is entitled to a bond 20 hearing under Casas-Castrillon v. DHS, 535 F.3d 942 (9th Cir. 2008). The Court agrees, and 21 grants the TRO on this basis. 22 I. BACKGROUND 23 Martinez Franco is a thirty-three-year old native and citizen of Mexico. Martinez Franco 24 Decl. (dkt. 3-1 Ex. A) ¶¶ 1, 5. He has a number of criminal convictions, several of which are drug 25 related. Id. ¶ 10. 26 On September 27, 2017, Martinez Franco was detained by ICE. Id. ¶ 1. He represented 27 himself pro se in the ensuing removal proceedings, in which he sought cancellation of removal. 1 Id. ¶ 13. The Immigration Judge denied cancellation and the Board of Immigration Appeals 2 affirmed, entering a final order of removal on August 27, 2018. BIA Decision (dkt. 3-1 Ex. C). 3 Martinez Franco then filed a petition for review with the Ninth Circuit. That petition remains 4 pending. Dkt. for Case No. 18-72479 (dkt. 3-1 Ex. D). Removal was stayed pending the Ninth 5 Circuit’s decision. See id.; see also Ninth Circuit General Order 6.4(c). 6 Martinez Franco remains in detention at the Mesa Verde Detention Facility. Martinez 7 Franco Decl. ¶ 1. He sought a bond hearing on March 16, 2020, but the Immigration Judge ruled 8 that she lacked jurisdiction to set bond under Jennings v. Rodriguez, 138 S. Ct. 830 (2018). IJ 9 Decision (dkt. 3-1 Ex. G). 10 Martinez Franco fears contracting COVID-19 in detention. Martinez Franco Decl. ¶ 20. It 11 is impossible for him to stay six feet away from other people, avoid touching objects and surfaces 12 other people have touched, or properly sanitize. Id. ¶ 21–24. New detainees and staff come into 13 the facility despite their exposure to the outside world and without wearing masks or gloves. Id. 14 ¶¶ 25–26. 15 The Government avers that Mesa Verde is taking other measures to prevent an outbreak of 16 COVID-19. These include screening new detainees for exposure to or symptoms of COVID-19, 17 isolating detainees who have been exposed, tested positive, or show symptoms, increased 18 sanitization, ending social visitation and limiting attorney contact visits, and screening staff and 19 vendors for symptoms of COVID-19. Pham Decl. (dkt. 13-1) ¶¶ 10–11, 14. There are no 20 suspected or reported cases of COVID-19 at Mesa Verde. Id. ¶ 17. And according to the Mesa 21 Verde medical unit, Martinez Franco “is not at high risk and does not meet any of the high-risk 22 criteria for severe illness from COVID-19 as set forth by the CDC.” Id. ¶ 16. 23 II. LEGAL STANDARD 24 A TRO is an “extraordinary remedy” that should only be awarded upon a clear showing 25 that the plaintiff is entitled to such relief. See Winter v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 26 7, 22 (2008). The party seeking a TRO must establish: (1) a likelihood of success on the merits; 27 (2) a likelihood of irreparable harm absent preliminary relief; (3) that the balance of equities tips in 1 Alternatively, the moving party must demonstrate that “serious questions going to the merits were 2 raised,” “the balance of hardships tips sharply in the plaintiff’s favor,” and the other two Winter 3 elements are met. Alliance for Wild Rockies v. Cottrell, 632 F.3d 1127, 1134–35 (9th Cir. 2011). 4 The “[l]ikelihood of success on the merits is the most important Winter factor.” Disney Enters., 5 Inc. v. VidAngel, Inc., 869 F.3d 848, 856 (9th Cir. 2017) (internal quotation marks omitted). 6 III. DISCUSSION 7 The parties focus on the likelihood of success on the merits. Accordingly, this order 8 addresses that issue first, then turns to a brief analysis of the other three Winter factors. 9 A. Likelihood of Success on the Merits 10 Franco argues that the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of substantive due process requires 11 his immediate release. Alternatively, he argues that either Casas-Castrillon or the Fifth 12 Amendment’s guarantee of procedural due process entitles him to a bond hearing. See Mot. 13 (dkt. 3) at 1, 6. 14 1. Substantive Due Process 15 Because Franco is a civil detainee, his conditions of confinement violate the Fifth 16 Amendment if they “amount to punishment.” Jonas v. Blanas, 393 F.3d 918, 932 (9th Cir. 2004) 17 (quoting Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 536 (1979)). Conditions of confinement amount to 18 punishment if they are “expressly intended to punish,” excessive in relation to their non-punitive 19 purpose, or “employed to achieve objectives that could be accomplished in so many alternative 20 and less harsh methods.” Id. (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). 21 As an initial matter, the Government argues Franco lacks Article III standing to challenge 22 the conditions of his confinement based on the risk of contracting COVID-19. To have Article III 23 standing a plaintiff must have suffered an “injury in fact,” that is “concrete and particularized, 24 and . . . actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical.” Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 25 U.S. 555, 560 (1992) (internal citations omitted). It must be “likely, as opposed to merely 26 speculative, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision.” Id. at 561 (internal 27 quotation marks omitted). The Government argues that because there are no recorded cases of 1 Franco’s “claim of future injury . . . based on his continued detention . . . is hypothetical.” Opp’n 2 (dkt. 13) at 8–9. And because Martinez Franco could hypothetically contract COVID-19 outside 3 of detention, the Government thinks he has not demonstrated that release would ameliorate the 4 risk of infection. Opp’n at 9–10. 5 This argument has been rejected by many, and perhaps all, courts that have considered it. 6 See, e.g. Doe v. Barr, No. 20-cv-02141-LB, 2020 WL 1820667, at *8 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 12, 2020) 7 (collecting cases). Most of these decisions rely on the Supreme Court’s observation in Helling v. 8 McKinney, 509 U.S. 25 (1993), that it would be “odd to deny an injunction to inmates who plainly 9 proved an unsafe, life-threatening condition on the ground that nothing yet had happened to them.” 10 Id. at 33. “[A] remedy for unsafe conditions need not await a tragic event.” Id. The Court agrees 11 that Helling is on point. The conditions Martinez Franco complains of pose a non-speculative risk 12 of tragic consequences. That is enough to demonstrate Article III standing, even if the detention 13 center is taking some preventative measures and has yet to record a case of COVID-19. See Bent 14 v. Barr, No. 19-cv-06123-DMR, 2020 WL 1812850, at *3 (N.D. Cal. Apr.

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Related

McLemore v. Powell
25 U.S. 554 (Supreme Court, 1827)
Broadrick v. Oklahoma
413 U.S. 601 (Supreme Court, 1973)
Bell v. Wolfish
441 U.S. 520 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Helling v. McKinney
509 U.S. 25 (Supreme Court, 1993)
Oscar W. Jones v. Lou Blanas County of Sacramento
393 F.3d 918 (Ninth Circuit, 2004)
Casas-Castrillon v. Department of Homeland Security
535 F.3d 942 (Ninth Circuit, 2008)
Disney Enterprises, Inc. v. Vidangel, Inc.
869 F.3d 848 (Ninth Circuit, 2017)
Jennings v. Rodriguez
583 U.S. 281 (Supreme Court, 2018)
Alliance for Wild Rockies v. Cottrell
632 F.3d 1127 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)

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Bluebook (online)
Martinez Franco v. Jennings, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martinez-franco-v-jennings-cand-2020.